Postby lakeswim » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:05 am
Thanks for this link again. I have looked at it before but it’d be good to review again and try harder to understand it all.
While I won’t pretend I fully understand everything the doctors tell me ... at the end of the day, it’s apparently unclear even to the experts and they have to move forward assuming it’s the more aggressive scenario. And a distinct fat plane is required for W&W.
My cousin, a radiologist, is thrilled with my results. He has seen all my scans and says he wouldn’t know where to find my tumor site now if he hadn’t seen the original staging MRI with the big tumor. That said, while he has decades of experience, he’s not an oncology radiologist and acknowledges that.
He and I found a study that said most healthy people don’t have distinct fat planes in that area to begin with. But the surgeon said it was a CT study and ended that discussion. But my cousin (again, not an Onc Rad) seems to think it’s an impt point. (Too bad he can’t come with me to my appts!)
Thanks again for bringing this to my attention, O. At the end of the day, I need to trust my experts, right?
Female - RC dgns @ 49 y
Adenocarcinoma
10-11 cm from anal verge ("large")
Stage 3a - T4N0M0
FOLFOX May -Sept 18
Capecetabine + Radiation - 28 sessions - Oct - Nov 18
Jan 19 - MRI & flex sig show tumor gone, Chest/ab CT no change
Feb 19 - MRI & flex sig show tumor gone
W&W (must travel)
.....W&W surveillance 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023....
Jan 24 - approaching 5 years this Spring with W&W surveillance to end.
*grateful*