Today will be a day that we will never forget. Today we found out that Scotty is cancer free!We spent the day at Dana Farber as Scotty got blood tests, cat scans and we sat down with his Oncologist, Dr. Pomerantz. It was a long day of waiting between appointments, trying to keep our minds busy and staying positive. It seemed like forever when they finally called out "Scott T." and the walk back into the exam room was little intimidating. Dr. P came in and smiled. He announced that Scotty's blood markers came back absolutely NORMAL!
The scans showed the lungs were completely free of tumors. Amazing! Unfortunately because the tumors were so far progressed when Scotty came into treatment, the tumors in his lymph nodes and abdomen shrunk but not completely, so there is still something showing there on the scans. The blood markers show that it is probably just scar tissue, and the only way to truly know is to go in and take one out to look at it (which at this time Dr. P does NOT think is necessary). Dr. P is going to discuss with the Urology team the pros and cons of taking them out and Scotty has to go back in 5-6 weeks to see the Urologist and Dr. P to discuss what the game plan is. It was explained that there are three possibilities:
- The most probable: Open him up, see that it's just scar tissue and sew him back up forever.
- The tumors could still hold viable cancer in the lymph nodes and removing them would be therapeutic b/c the nodes are the most common place for cancer to go so it could fully cure him. Dr. P doesn't think it's likely. He says it only happens 5% of the time.
- More common: Some tumors tend to carry Teratoma that travels with cancer and does not respond to chemo. It is NOT cancer but continues to grow in size taking up prime real estate.
One interesting fact we learned today is that one of Scotty's kidneys doesn't work. Although it doesn't work, he still has perfect kidney function. The scan did show that his kidney was perking up a bit, but the tube that connects it to the liver was beaten up pretty bad from the tumor and may never heal. But hey... we only need one to live, so as long as he takes good care of his good one... he's golden! :)
Scott is such an amazingly strong man and I am so proud of what he has overcome. Dr. Pomerantz explained that Scotty's condition was very rare due to the large aggressive disease burden already on him when he started treatment and what he went through is worse than what they put anyone through. He said that Scott was very strong and brave and that if ever goes through something like this, he hopes he's as strong as Scott. I know that no one more than him wishes that today was it and we don't have to worry about surgery down the road, but he is a superhero and will do what he has to do. He knows he has support from the greatest family and friends a guy could ask for and he knows that what he may be up against is nothing compared to what he WAS up against... and WON! Neither of us could have made it this far without all of your love and support and our lives have been completely touched by many of you. This experience will never be looked at with anything but positive memories of the numerous ways our friends and family reached out to us, holding our hands along the way. We will always be reminded of faith and hope and the belief that love conquers all. We will take every lesson that was taught and be grateful for it. As we are grateful for all of you!
I will keep you posted as soon as we meet with the doctors. His appointment is scheduled for 5 weeks out but it could change to either 4 or 6. Please keep the prayers going that what's to come will be easy and painless and that Scotty can fully have his life back, once and for all!
Much love and gratitude,
Jax & Super Scotty
