After her most recent CT scans showed a couple things (one we knew about, one we didn't) that didn't look good, today we got an update from my wife's lead doctor on the results of her PET scan they did on Tuesday.
The news is, well, not good
I'll preface by saying that the list of bad news does NOT include anything currently near any vital organ; i.e. there is nothing immediately life threatening ... but it does feel like we're on the clock
There are suddenly tumors all over the place
-- the crown of her head (the largest & the one we suspected would be)
-- one in the upper (bad) leg
-- one in her side (think above the bad hip)
-- one in her left butt cheek
-- several other that are on bone, but not currently in bone
There were enough that he stopped laundry listing them "you've got the idea, no sense me going through every single one, they'll be treated at the same time"
All those I mentioned are in fatty tissue, not bone, which is pretty weird considering her tumor profile.
He now suspects that she does NOT have sarcoma (despite test indications saying so) but rather uterine cancer gone nuts
He found a current case with a colleague that has a similar path, good news is that after a couple years, that case is now on the run (going backwards instead of just a draw)
Starting ASAP (literally, tomorrow if they could get her in, but ASAP) -- chemo begins.
It's 1 dose .. then wait 3 weeks and another dose ... then wait 3 weeks, scans, then decide whether to continue that type OR try to switch to a diff version (
for those with unfortunate experience in these matters, we think it's the notorious "Red Devil" version edit to correct: thankfully it's the less toxic carboplatin and paclitaxel combo that is popular for a variety of female-dominant cancers )
He says time is our best ally as everything appears to be early BUT it's clearly extremely aggressive.
It's ... bad. Not hopeless yet, literally the main hope is in that similar case with a positive direction (it combined chemo with immunotherapy stuff .. which he's going to start fighting the insurance for now). That, plus possible early discovery, plus the current locations.
He thinks that we
might be early enough to have time to switch chemo types if this one isn't doing the job after 6 weeks
The mood here is, well, about what you'd imagine. Fear (fuck that more like terror) trepidation, anxiety. Her mood is darker than that, and when I'm the more positive person in any situation you know things are rough. Will handled the news long distance as well as possible, he's trying to stay focused on the lifelines of hope as best he can.
I've spent most of the last 5-6 hours updating family, her closest friends, a couple of mine. I figured I might as well just do a c&p dump here too.
I'm already exhausted and the hell ain't really even kicked off yet.
But y'all ridden this coaster with me this far, you get the same news (with a few coarser additions) that the family and innermost circle get.