The consult at MD Anderson went very well.
The oncologist we saw (who we really liked) looked through all the tests and said that the treatment plan already outlined is what he would recommend as well. Furthermore, he said that chemo is pretty much the same wherever – the drugs are what they are – and we can do that here but do our check-ins with him. However, for the final radiation component, there is some operator expertise involved, so we’ll do that part at MD Anderson itself.
So we have a final treatment plan. We may have to make some tweaks based on holidays, Joseph’s reaction to the chemo, and any upcoming infections, but here’s the overall plan:
Chemo:
8 total treatments; 1 chemo day every other week.
First treatment is this Thursday (10/29) and will continue to be on Thursday afternoons (except where it bumps into the holidays).
PET scans
There will be a PET scan halfway through the treatment (as scheduled, that would be the week of Christmas. We’ll see.) and another one at the end of treatment. Both of those will be in Houston.
Radiation
At the final PET scan, they’ll do some other scan for the radiation team to plan their approach. And then we’ll find out the radiation plan and go with it.
The PET scans should show us how effective the chemo was. If they show us we need to do another round, we’ll figure it out from there. The radiation is to keep it from coming back.