Stage IV - yet Stable

After seeing the doctor yesterday we are decidedly more upbeat about the current situation than we were on Friday (and all weekend). Unfortunately, I've been "downgraded" from Stage IIIb to Stage IV (downgraded, since IIIb was considered curable even if by a very small margin whereas IV is considered terminal).

With the bad news out of the way, I can now focus on the good news which is that my situation is stable. At least, the differences between scans taken between July and now suggest that if any development in my cancer has occurred it has been very small. The crux is with what happened between March and July where noticable growth in my lung nodules took place. For now though, I appear to be responding postively to Tarceva and since I'm tolerating it very well, we aren't going to fix what isn't entirely broken.

Let me add (after finding out that this note isn't being too well received) that the doctor is very positive about my situation. He feels that I have many more years left and is hopeful that during this time, a major breakthrough will occur in the lung cancer field that will improve my overall prognosis (which we agree, just like life itself, isn't soo good ;).

I'm sure, we will get to play out this saga again in 12 weeks which is when I'll have my next round of tests. Stay tuned (I know I will be).