Post Number 12 - Some Christmas Cheer

It's Sunday and Mark's first week of Radiotherapy is over.  So far he has been handling it very well, with the exception of an irritating type of headache behind his right eye.  This was really starting to bother him as well as a slight amount of nausea. 

Included in the week of radiation appointments were two other appointments with a Neurologist and with the Radiologist doctor.  The Neurologist was pleased with his progress and dismissed the headache as panadol would bring relief, albeit only short-term.  The Radiologist however was very quick to put him back on to the Dexamethozone.  Although it was not great news, he insisted that his symptoms required this drug and that once the treatment was over, and his body recovered, the drug would be slowly reduced and stopped. 

Disappointed with this, the mood quickly changed when he mentioned the great news about the regrading of his tissue sample.  We quickly said, "Oh yes, but they would only have had a small amount of the sample and not the whole mass that was removed".  The doctor shook his head smiling and said, "Oh no, they had the whole box and dice, just as the lab in Adelaide did". 

We looked at each other totally stunned.  Could this really be true?  Is this really a downgraded diagnosis?  The doctor continued to say that he thought one of the other doctors had resubmitted the sample to the Adelaide Lab for a another opinion to be totally sure, however, the overseas lab had tested it several times by several different technicians so he believed their diagnosis to be correct.  That said however, he discussed with Mark that he would leave the treatment as is for the moment as it was better to over-treat than under-treat and this way we can be sure it is all gone and zapped into lifelessness (the tumour cells, not Mark!).

So maybe Christmas might not be so bleak after all and we can celebrate, as we have so very much to be thankful for!