Awww. Sounds wonderful. 
That’s so sweet! I’m glad you’re able to have some fun times in the midst of all this. They’re important.
If she does at some point go to the dentist, talk to her medical team first. They may want her to have an antibiotic even for an exam. Just poking around can introduce bacteria into the bloodstream which can be difficult for a compromised immune system to handle.
What a lovely celebration of life
Yeah, we have to be careful with the dentist, because the oral chemo does have a tendency to cause some bleeding.
I will say that this has made me very aware of the knife edge of life that we are on, and I am trying to take Warren Zevon’s advice and enjoy every sandwich.
ok, a long overdue update. After 9 weeks on chemo fairly continuously, Mrs. S. was rescanned last week, and we got some positive news. The primary tumor in her foot did show some loss of mass, there were no new spots in the lungs, and the metabolic rate of the tumors showed about 33% less activity. Basically, the drugs did their job so far, so now it’s time for surgery.
She is looking at a below knee amputation of her right leg in mid August, then surgery on each lung following that, and chemo again afterwards. The oncologist feels that we are on the right path for curative treatment so far, and wants to get the surgeries done as soon as possible so there is no tumor recovery or loss of chemo effectiveness.
On the personal side, we did take a long family weekend to Niagara Falls, and a return trip to the bed and breakfast we tried to visit the weekend of her biopsy, both of which were really enjoyable, a bit of a last hurrah before the surgeries. We have also been very lucky to have friends and family that have tried to take care of us as well. Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers, it is amazing to feel so cared about by people, many who I will never know.
I had seen this thread but had no idea what the title referred to. I checked it out because of your nice compliment to me in a music thread, Theodore Striker.
I am so sorry to hear of your wife’s situation. I wish you all strength with this aggressive action to get her tumors.
Thank you for keeping us posted. Best wishes to you in the times ahead. As always, if there’s anything we can do, from cards, to silly jokes, to just listening, please let us know. We are here.
Good to know there are positive signs. As **Sunny Daze **said, if you need anything your long-distance friends can do just ask.
So, um… Am I the only one puzzling over the thread title? Who are the 12 people? When I saw the title, I expected this to be about a jury.
It refers to how rare the cancer is: OP:
“What’s a myxiod chondrosarcoma you ask? Well, since you asked, chondrosarcomas are malignant tumors that generally form on connective tissues in the bone, and though they are the second most diagnosed form of bone cancers, their are only about 600 people diagnosed with them in the US p/year. About 2% of these are the myxoid type, so 12 people p/year. Yay for her being special.”
Thank you for keeping us updated. It is good to hear positive news among the hard parts.
So… good news!
Which no doubt makes the misery of chemo easier to cope with. It’s still miserable regardless, but at least she’s getting a payoff for it.
Best wishes on all that. I know that amputation is nothing to look forward to, but better a leg than a life as I see it. Let us know if we can help. Honestly, right now I can’t offer much more than sending a card but if that can help I’ll do it.
Although the outcome of my husband’s cancer was not what we hoped for I, too, was amazed as the amount of support and help I received along the way. I can’t do much, but I’m happy to send what help I can, even if that’s just an encouraging word or just saying best wishes.
Thanks everyone, the encouraging words are more than enough. And it was nice to see some results of the chemo… she was really dreading possibly hearing that she had been miserable for months with no payoff. The nurse that supports the surgeon also made the point that many people feel much better following the amputation surgery, because there is so much less cancer for the body to fight against at that point, which is something we didn’t really think of. Cautiously optimistic!