No, the picture is not another close-up of my last PET scan. Another July 4th has come and gone in our neighborhood. As usual, our entire subdivision seems to have bought out the pyrotechnic wares plied at our local Native American reservation, making the skies look like invasion night in Bagdhad. It's kind of a semi-controlled chaos that lasts from noon until well past midnight - fun but a little scary.I'll be enjoying a little break from chemotherapy when I head back to the east coast to be the best man at my Dad's wedding (any help with the "best man's toast" will be greatly appreciated). I'll miss two weeks of chemo, which is a little worrisome for me. My marker number dropped last time (hurray!), but went up just slightly to 5.8 (from 4.6) this past Thursday. With two weeks away from treatment, will they go up more? I have another PET scan scheduled in three weeks - maybe it will look like this:
Getting my marker numbers is always an interesting exercise. When the numbers show an improvement, the oncologist calls me at home on Friday morning to give me the good news. When the news isn't as good, I have to get the information from the nurses at the treatment center when I return Silent Bob on Saturday. They're always a little reluctant to pull up my records, even though I have a right to see them as a patient. I explained how important these numbers are to us when I had a chance to chat with some of the weekend nurses - those numbers are the only way that we can tell if we're making progress, holding the line, or losing ground. One commented that it must be terrible having to wait to get those numbers, and in a way she was right. We want so badly for the news to be good, but that's not always what we get. I can't blame them for being reluctant to give me the lab results - I wouldn't want to have to pass on bad news either. I assured them that after having been through this for a year already, I could take the news - good or bad. At this point, it "is what it is" and I can live with that. I hope I can remember that when I have to wait to get the results of that next PET scan... 
