PET scan shows tumor growth

We learned from Susan’s recent PET scan there seems to be a little more tumor on the right frontal lobe compared to a similar scan two years ago. Her neuro-oncologist has been watching this newer tumor area for a while and now is inclined to start treatment, probably chemotherapy. Since she’s scheduled for another MRI in ten days, we’ll look for any changes next to the scan from early October and decide on a game plan. Dr Nghiemphu floated the idea of Susan going back on Temodar, the first chemo she had in 2007. It was initially effective back then; and she tolerated it well.

Knowing tumor progression tends to be a matter of time with GBM, I asked the doctor a couple of years ago when Susan was doing well what treatments remain for her if and when it begins growing again. She said there are several other chemotherapies available, including one or two she has in mind that might work for Susan’s cell types. It’s comforting to know there are more tools in the bag. However, additional surgery and radiation are apparently out of the question on the right side for Susan since she’s already had them on the left. If the right side of her brain has been compensating for trauma on the left by doing more work, we can’t risk her losing function under the strain of such focused treatment. But she may be eligible for experimental, targeted therapy like a clinical trial vaccine if needed. We’ll see how it goes. Meanwhile, Susan feels well and has improved over the past month, perhaps from a slightly higher dose of the steroid Decadron.

We’re not prone to panic or despair; but this is the first such reversal Susan’s had in over two years, so it’s unnerving. Naturally, I want to answers for unanswerable questions, like what will happen next? And how long will Susan live? It helps to know they’re unanswerable so I can move on. Instead, we turn again to God who loves us, who made us, who has good plans for us, and who knows the number of our days. We turn to his ample supply of grace and peace, resources that have become more real and satisfying than we could have imagined. We also turn to his word, again and again, like where our friend Peter tells us:

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:6-9

What if there’s purpose to our trials and a future brightness from them that blindingly outshines their present gloom? The thought is liberating and life-giving. It’s even exciting. I believe it’s why Susan is so looking forward to Heaven; but it has great implications for the rest of our lives on earth. As we trust God and pray for Susan’s healing, we also thank him for his gift of hope. I think it must be some of the most powerful stuff there is.