Worrisome Times - September 1, 2010

Early Tuesday morning, perhaps because of all the activity of carrying and lifting the day before, Pete mentioned that his left knee was bothering him. The MRI of his right leg was scheduled for a little later in the morning, and there was the appointment with Dr W later in the afternoon. Before going to that appointment, Pete stopped by the hospital where his craniotomy had been performed to pick up the slides of that tumor to bring with us on Thursday.

Dr W was concerned about these new developments, the growths in both legs. Pete filled him in on the appointment with Dr R, and that Dr R would not finalize a plan until he had seen the slides of the primary tumor. Dr W suggested making a call to Dr W2, the radiology oncologist, who had directed the tomotherapy following the surgery that removed the brain met, in case Dr R's plan for radiation might be done local to us.

Wednesday morning, Pete awakened with a very red, swollen and painful left knee, so much so that it was difficult for him to bend it even 45 degrees. He put in a call to Dr R, who advised him to stay off of it as much as possible and to call back if it worsened. Pete asked if they had received the slides from MSKCC and the answer was "no", so Pete put a call in to see what the delay was. They told him they had to cut new slices and that they would "overnight" them to Dr R so that he would have them when we went in to the appointment Thursday.

Sometime during the course of the day, Pete looked at the scan of his right leg and found the mass located in his calf. As the day went on, the swelling, redness and pain he had in his left knee began to dissipate, suggesting to both of us that perhaps it was a reaction to Monday's exertion.

To learn that there are two additional tumors is devastating; to know that they were identified before they could progress any farther is something for which we are very thankful. The best news in all of this is that the MRI of the brain showed no new lesions.