Stine here, with good news!

The oncologist told us yesterday that she has seen enough progress to start the countdown to the end of Brian’s chemo. He will have four more sessions, and the beginning of the end happened yesterday immediately after our meeting with her. That means he now has three chemo sessions left, and he should be done at the end of March!

However, he still has to get an “all clear” PT (or “pet”) scan in two months at the end of March when he is done with chemo. Based on the results of the pet scan, and a consultation with a radiation oncologist, we may or may not be totally done. She is considering having Brian go through a month of radiation after the end of chemo, which would happen Monday through Friday for a month, pushing his total treatment time to the end of April. That would only happen if the radiation oncologist thinks it is necessary after the results of his pet scan.

So, we still have to wait and see what his pet scan looks like at the end of March. However, we do know that we can start counting down to the end of chemo, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Today was also our lucky day, because we arrived a few hours earlier than we normally do so we could accommodate an opening in the oncologists schedule. That means we were a few hours ahead of schedule all day, and little did we know, that they serve lunch if you’re in a chemo session at noon! The food was actually pretty good.

Chicken dijonaise, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms with artichokes, and a side of lorezapam, and AVD chemo (hold the bleomycin).

The lung function test indicated that he will stay off the bleomycin for the remainder of chemo, which is fine by us.

Brian spent the evening napping and enjoying the celebration taco dinner Tanya brought over for us, and then he went to bed at 7:30. For the record, that was 30 minutes before he would have normally gone on stage. Thank you to Brian’s cast for for being patient with us, and letting Brian work around his chemo schedule. I gave the oncology nurses the promotional materials, because they were interested in attending a performance. =)

Thanks all for your good thoughts over the last few days and weeks. I am so pleased to finally be able to say that he only has two months of chemo left, and we can start the countdown. Finally, the end is in sight!

Have a great weekend, everyone!