Eila's check-in

Today Eila had her post-chemo check up, a series of tests to see that her 6+ months of treatments are complete. This is also a chance to check to see if any negative side effects from chemo are appearing. Today she had an echocardiogram to make sure chemo hasn't damaged her heart, blood work to see that she's recovered from chemo and that here kidney is functioning well, a MRI of her abdomen to check that there's no sign of cancer remaining, and a CT scan of her lungs to also check for cancer.

From Nov/Dec2015

Needless to say, it was a very long day at the hospital but it was mostly good news. Her heart looks healthy; they will continue to monitor it every other year (and hopefully she won't need any more doxorubicin in the future). Her blood work looks good; her blood counts have returned to normal values and her kidney function is strong (no medications needed at this time - yay!). The MRI had no signs of tumor cells in her abdomen, the doctor was even pleased with how much kidney seems to be left (probably still more than 50%).

The only complication came from the CT scan of her lungs. When Eila had a CT scan back in May to get better measurements/pictures of her kidney tumor(s), we also learned that she had a small polyp/nodule on her lungs.  Unfortunately that polyp remains on her lungs, but fortunately it hasn't changed in size.  What does this mean?  We don't really know.  Dr. Thomas was unable to meet with us today, and our substitute doctor thought it was best to get Dr. Thomas's input on it.  He will be back the week after Christmas, so we are just going to enjoy the next week with family and wait to find out what's ahead.