Dallas here...
So we had the appointment with the oncologist, Dr. B., on Monday.
The short version is that the meeting went well and now we understand the reasons why things have been going as they have been.
Basically Dr. B. explained that there are a finite amount of treatment options, and each treatment may only work for a limited time before it stops working. Since the scans have confirmed that Pam's lung cancer has not been advancing and hasn't been causing symptoms, Dr. B. didn't want to "waste" one of these finite treatment options when it isn't really needed. His advise is to keep all therapies in reserve for when the cancer starts to advance.
His analogy was soldiers in a bunker, surrounded by the enemy, with only a limited supply of ammunition and no chance of resupply. The soldiers would be best off saving their ammo for when the enemy attacks. If the enemy is staying behind cover and not attacking, there's no point wasting ammo shooting at them, when that ammo cannot be replaced.
We think this makes a good deal of sense. Dr. B. assured us that if/when the cancer starts to advance he will treat it every way he can. Pam will have regular scans every 8-10 weeks or so to monitor the situation, and more frequently if symptoms present.
If this had been explained to us earlier it would have saved us alot of anxiety about why treatment had not started. However I think we are all on the same page now and we feel quite a bit better about the whole thing. Next brain scan should be later this month.
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I actually heard a news program the other day regarding breast and prostate cancers where they said that regular screenings for healthy folk was not necessarily helping things because it sometimes resulted in people getting treated for cancers that did not need treating. I never realized that some cancers might not need treating (or not right when they were detected). I always thought you should treat any cancer as soon as it was found. The program said that some cancers were so slow-growing that they would never impact a person's health. ever ever occurred to me. So what you are saying is in the same vein, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you have greater peace of mind. And hopefully less treatments will mean you feel better!
Looking forward to seeing you guys next week.
S