This week has been quite a week!  I have had a tremendous amount of pain and there seems to be nothing that can ease the spikes in the pain.  I saw my chemo doctor on Wednesday.  He was concerned that I have shown no improvements in pain levels or my ability to walk.  He cancelled the chemo and opted to order an MRI to see if the chemo is having any effect.  He also was concerned that the pain I am having is not under control.  He told us that he would discuss options with other doctors to determine what was available to help me.  He also told us that he would let us know in the next 48 hours what the team had come up with.  I went in for the MRI Wednesday night.  We went ahead and stayed in Portland instead of driving home.  I was in pain most of the day, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to lay still for the MRI.  I made it!

I was able to work on Thursday with some degree of discomfort.  When I got home, my doctor called to let me know the results of the MRI and the suggestions my team of doctors.  He told me that the MRI showed that there was insignificant growth of the tumor and that I would continue the chemo next week.  He also referred me to a neurologist.  I guess there is a possibility that he could deaden some of the nerves that are causing the pain.  No pain would be nice.  The other side of the coin would be that I would never recover any use from the nerve....it would be gone forever.  He also said that I may never get the nerve use back anyway.  We will be anxious to hear what the neurologist has to say before any decision is made. He also referred me to a rehabilitation doctor.  He will help me work around the pain and learn to walk more efficiently.  Needless to say, we have a lot going on right now.

The big positive in all of this is that the tumor has not grown very much and we actually have options to deal with the pain.  We'll continue to keep you posted.