First follow up after treatment

I went to get my MRI and see the oncologist today. This was the first follow up after the 6 week IMRT and Chemo treatment. It has been about 5 weeks since treatment completed. Its been a long day, I'll keep this short.

They did not have any time between the MRI and the appointment to officially analyze the  progress. After looking at the MRI for about 2 minutes, the doctor said "It seems to me the tumor has shrunk". I prodded him for a percentage estimate and he deferred until official analysis by the radiologist...should be done some time next week. If I had a dollar every time I was told that!

While he was reviewing the MRI, his PA was writing out the prescription to continue Chemotherapy. This kind tells me that no matter what they saw, I was going to go back on Chemo. The prescription is for 3x the dose I was getting before, but only 5 days/month. Its Temodar again, 300mg/day for 5 days of the month, the the remainder of the month no Chemo. This will continue for 12 months.

This was pretty much what I expected. I told him about the minor symptoms I have been having, he said these are not serious and not to worry....just keep him up to date about any changes.

I then asked him about driving. He looked at Holly and asked - "what do you think?". WOW! Holly said that she does not see a problem with that. He asked me about my commute to work - its only 10 miles on side streets. He said OK...with two conditions, stay off the expressway and do not drive when tired. I was so excited I kicked him in the face (jk, jk). The liberty go to/from work and to run to the store really made my day.

When we got home I looked at the new MRI and tried to compare it to one from November. It is clear that things have changed, but I think you need to be some sort of doctor to tell if it changed for the better. The tumor is still there but looks a little different - no bigger or smaller to my eyes. I think it is too soon to be tracking the size, I'll be more interested in this aspect a year out. For now I am happy to be back at work and driving around the neighborhood in my Volkswagen station wagon. beep beep. word out.