My monthly appointment with Dr. Tuscano was yesterday. I got the actual PET/CT scan report and as I saw the words, "Apparent complete response to therapy," I cried. I learned that because of my advanced staging and poor prognostic factors at the time of diagnosis, I had a 75% chance of being cured, and because I responded so well to treatment early on, I now have a 95% chance.
We were armed and ready to have the if-the-cancer-is-gone-why-do-I-have-to-complete-all-treatments conversation. It went as expected. He said that there's no data to support stopping chemo early. The idea is to kill any remaining cancer cells that may be undetectable with a PET/CT scan. He also said that he would respect any decision I made, and would continue to monitor me, whereas some oncologists won't care for patients if they stop treatment early. Crazy.
During our visit, Joseph had lots of high-tech questions. Whenever he talks to Tuscano, he uses "we". For example, "No, we haven't filled..." or "We need to decide..." I always feel protected and part of a team when he puffs up his feathers for me. This was funny, though. Tuscano asked if I had done the fecal occult (poop smear) test yet. Before I could answer, Joseph piped up, "We haven't gotten around to doing that yet." I looked at him and said, "Excuse me? Are you planning on doing that with me? I'd be happy if you'd do it for me!"
I'll leave you with another finding on the PET report:
"A metallic artifact in the right naris, which may represent a nose ring." What the heck else could it represent, I wonder? They asked me to take it off during the scan and I said no.
Woooo Hooooo!