Stage IV Confirmed

The results of the second PET scan are in. The areas that lit up on the first PET scan (the right hip, backbone, and sternum) all shrunk significantly. This is mixed news. Great news because we know my cancer is responding and because we know that I was right about my read of my MRI of my spine. Bad news because I am now confirmed to have been Stage IV. So, that means 6 rounds of chemotherapy and some radiation on my hip and my backbone. Probably no radiation on the sternum because that would cook my heart. I was fully expecting these results. I am pretty sure we are not going to do a spinal tap, because now they are saying that it is just way too unlikely that the cancer got into my backbone.