Satomi's Cancer Blog

To confirm the cancerous nature of Satomi’s spine, we took detailed CT and MRI images earlier this past week.  My mood during the test was a bit solemn.

A few days later I received a call from our Oncologist.  It was a call in the middle of the day so I thought it important.  The doctor asked for Satomi to join us on the phone so I knew it was important.  Unfortunately, Satomi was at Physical Therapy so I was alone to get the news.  As normal, I expected the worst.  Those few seconds of anticipation was just excruciating.

Satomi’s spine is not cancerous.

I was shocked and in complete disbelief.  What the hell just happened?  What happened to everyone thinking it was cancerous?  Are you sure?

Our Oncologist said that she had the scans reviewed by 3 separate Radiologists to confirm the news.  All of them agreed that it did not look like cancer.  Satomi did have 3 damaged vertebrae but they think it due to Osteopenia (low bone density).

But here’s the disclaimer:  This opinion is based upon visual review of the scans.  Since there can be no biopsy, they can’t be 100% confident that it’s not cancer. 

From what I have read, cancerous bone tumors look quite different from other types of bone damage but nonetheless, these results remain subjective.  I’m picking up the scans tomorrow morning and plan to get many other opinions.

Honestly, I have trouble believing any good news.  Our luck has been terrible thus far, so why would things change now?  I remain tempered until I get further confirmation.

This emotional roller coaster is just exhausting.

We met with a Urologist today to check for any stones in Satomi’s right kidney and to verify her overall renal system health.  The renal system is taxed by all the drugs she’s taking so this is important.

Just prior to the visit, Satomi passed several humungous kidney stones.  Given the size of a typical kidney stone, calling these “boulders” would not be unreasonable.  The largest measured 10mm-That’s no typo.  The largest kidney stone was 1cm across at it’s widest point!  Satomi brought them to the appointment in a little bag.  The doctor was just shocked.

Lucky for her she was on anti-inflammatories (Decadron) and pain-killers (Darvocet) so passing these suckers were relatively painless.

The doctor confirmed that Satomi’s system has a tendancy to form stones over time.  To address this issue, Satomi is suppose to take (2) more pills one of which is an antibiotic. 

She takes a lot of medication.

On the most part, my previous post “Terrible News” was correct.  As it turns out only 2 of the 3 damaged areas of her spine is in the thoracic region and the third is in her lumbar region.  There are signs of compression fractures at each of those locations.  We didn’t have the actual film so I couldn’t gauge the severity of the fracture.  Luckily, all areas don’t correspond to Satomi’s pain.  The scan also showed a kidney stone blocking her right kidney.  That may be a source of some of the lower back pain so we need to see a Urologist.

Everyone (our Oncologist, the Radiologist that read the Pet/CT scan images, and our Neurosurgeon) seems to think that these areas are cancer but the truth be told, no one can be 100% sure without further tests.  As I mentioned before, a biopsy is not possible but additional CT/MRI images on the specific areas of concern will provide adequate confirmation.

We won’t know if the damaged vertebrae will need localized treatment before continuing with our systemic treatment plan until the images are taken and scrutinized.  From what I can gather from articles and talking with the Oncologist, the localized treatment options range from doing nothing (since she’s in no pain) to radiation to drilling holes in the damaged vertebrae and injecting a plastic-cement reinforcement.  There are pro’s and con’s to all but the biggest factor seems to be quality of life.

The systemic treatment plan is primarily more chemo but drug details are a bit more gray.  There are several treatment plans that we could follow.  I’ll give you more information about it after I do a bit of digging.  We’re looking into second and third opinions.

The doctor recommended that Satomi have a Port-a-Cath (or “Port”) put back into her chest to facilitate chemo.  When we had her first port removed, we didn’t consider the possibility of needing to put it back in later.  In any case, it’s a relatively minor operation.

Between the scans, kidney stone, localized spine treatment, 2nd/3rd opinions, and putting the port back in, we will be pretty busy over these next weeks.

Whatever treatment we select, we need to start it as soon as possible.

When we have a scan or bloodwork, we usually have the results sent to several different Doctors just to save time.  So it is not unusual for us to get several calls interpretting the same results.  That’s what just happened.

Our Neurosurgeon reviewed the Pet/CT and noted the same problem area in Satomi’s upper back as our Oncologist.  According to him, there are some signs of small localized fractures.  To be sure and to recommend a course of action, they need more tests to better illustrate the area.

Results from last weeks Pet/CT scan show that Satomi’s cancer has spread to her spine.  The Oncologist said that there are 3 locations in her thoracic vertebrae.  Satomi has lower back pain but nothing in the area in question.  Beyond that I don’t know details. 

A biopsy is not necessary as the growth has been since our last PET/CT scan only a few months ago.  Even if this wasn’t the case, it’s location wouldn’t allow a physical biopsy as the area is surrounded by nerves and other sensitive tissue.  It would risk paralysis.

According to our Oncologist, it’s a clear sign that the cancer is still active and aggressive.  The chemo drugs were not effective and need to be changed.  

Obviously this is not good news but the doctor emphasized that Satomi is not dying.  Her brain scar tissue is doing very well and there are no sign of other brain tumors.

It’s hard to stay positive but I guess it could be a lot worse.  If it were in her brain, our Satomi, as we know her, could cease to exist well before her body quit.  That would be devastating.

That’s about as positive as I can be right now.

We are trying to figure out what comes next.  New Chemo drugs?  New Oncologist?  Eastern Medicine?  Voodoo witchcraft?  A combination of everything?

We have an appointment with the Oncologist on Thursday to discuss options.

We’re all so tired.  Can we just wake up from this nightmare?

[After reading this many of you will be upset.  I won’t stop you from calling but just know that talking on the phone is very fatiguing for her.  I know an E-mail is very impersonal but it would be fine given the situation.  Her E-mail is automatically forwarded to her Blackberry so that may be the best conduit for communication.  She is on her Blackberry a lot.  If you want to visit, please contact me to coordinate it.]

[Authors note:  For anyone that is sending her E-mail, be sure to send it to her Yahoo Email account:  satomi.okamoto@yahoo.com.  Her socal.rr.com E-mail does not forward to her Blackberry.  Sorry about the mix up.]