The only "active" lesion is in the right femur and they say that lesion is just so big it's going to take it a while to heal. The bone marrow in that area is "almost" normal and they say nothing to worry about.
The bad news is that Tanner's broken left tibia shows no perceptible healing since the last CAT scan done in April.
Dr. Nicholas says that he wants to wait until we come back in four months for his next re-staging tests and see if there is any improvement. This is exactly what he said to Tanner in April so,needelees to say, Tanner was disappointed. He was hoping to either have healed enough that they said things were going to be fine on their own, or that he was ready for surgery. He is just ready to get rid of the crutches.
We asked Dr. Nicholas if he thought four more months were really gong to make a difference since it's already been over a year and he said that the surgery wasn't without risks and he didn't want to go there unless absolutely necessary.
After thinking about all of this during the drive home, I called his office yesterday and left a message that I wanted them to just be aware that Tanner only has a few more months on his COBRA policy after which time he will only be covered on Medicaid. I told them I didn't know if this made a difference but that I wanted them to be aware of the fact. After hanging up, I thought I should have probably told them he will also have another $10,000 deductible after the first of the year. I haven't heard back yet.The only change the doctor at MIRT made on his maintenance chemo is that they slightly reduced the steroids in an effort to abate some of the nausea and the gag reflux when Tanner tries to eat.
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