and the UPDATE is...

Mom got the results of her first CT scan since returning home from Korea... and I have to say "we may never really know" if the treatments in Korea worked or not.  The CT didn't really show anything getting really worse.  The radiologist thought the top lobe of her lung looked a little better, but the bottom lobe looked a little worse. There is so much opacity showing in the CT in that lung and it can be collapsed lung, scar tissue from all the radiation she's had, or disease. No one can really tell. The distinctive tumors she had in the upper lobe can't be seen anymore because the entire area is so full of opacity now. They looked at the CT side-by-side to the one taken last August (before the last round of radiation here or in Korea) and it was really hard to see any difference. Mom says that there is a lot to be grateful for in that it hasn't gotten worse over the last 8 months, and that's huge. It didn't get any better either (at least that we can tell) and that's certainly disappointing.

Mom and her pal asked the doc if he thought the treatments in Korea helped at all. He said yes, because she was still sitting there and still working full time. He said most patients with her kind of cancer only make it a few months to a year. He also said he thought going was good for her psychologically and emotionally. He didn't think that she would do well just sitting around doing nothing. She asked what would he suggest next. He said there were a few drugs out there, but that she'd already done the big ones. There isn't a lot of treatments for people this long into the disease because there aren't that many of them, although the number is growing. He suggested naturalpathic treatments, and thought she'd do well trying the naturalpathic school in Portland.

So there you go. 

I basically told her this...

I just read about James Blue. I feel bad for his wife. You and he were so different though. He went to Korea in a wheelchair and hooked up to oxygen. And with or without all that treatment in Korea, your cancer hasn't spread. That definitely could have happened without going but it's possible it helped too. I guess there will be no real way to know for sure. So for your own peace of mind, you might go with the thought that maybe it did. Because if it just ended up being a very expensive vacation for you, it sure wasn't very fun. :-)



I think that you are going to be a testament to this fight with stage IV lung cancer. You are an example of someone who CAN keep fighting and working and living.

Whatever you are doing, Mom... keep doing it. You may not be 100% and maybe still right where you were 8 months ago... but to be where you were 8 months ago is pretty darn remarkable. Don't you think?


Yep, and that is that.  Mom is coming up on three years after diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer.  Still working 40 hours per week and still just as strong and wilfull as ever.  I remember Dr. Cho in Korea having a hard time too reading the CT scan because of all the opacity.

To me, this has been like walking into a really dark area where you have to feel your way around to find the way back out.  This new scan is still like walking into a really dark area, feeling your way around and still finding the same way back out.  After the treatment, it would have been nice to know that the area was filled with light.  However, I think we have to realize that the way out could have been lost forever.   Well, it's not.  It's still dark but there is a lot of hope that we can live with that and get used to feeling our way around and always find the door out. 

I love you, Mom.