Thursday, January 08, 2004
In mid-November, Bruce discovered a very small, painless lump on the back of his left shoulder blade. It was more under the skin than in the skin, and it felt like a clump of fatty tissue. It didn't feel like a lymph node or anything to be concerned about so, since my Dad was extremely ill at the time (he passed away Dec. 27, 2003), we didn't act on it right away. The lump slowly continued growing though so, at Bruce's last routine check-up on Dec.10th, he showed it to the doctor. It was agreed that it wasn't a lymph node but, considering Bruce's history, it was decided that it should be checked out with an x-ray & an ultra-sound. Those tests showed that the lump was a soft tissue tumor so Bruce was referred to a surgeon. The surgeon said it could be a lipoma (benign tumor), or possibly a soft-tissue sarcoma (soft-tissue cancer)...she said a biopsy should be done. Bruce had the biopsy done this past Monday, Jan. 5, 2004. After the surgery, the surgeon said if she had to guess by the appearance of it, she'd say it was a sarcoma...although, of course, she couldn't tell for sure...a pathologist would have to determine what it was. For the past few days, Bruce & I have been researching sarcomas & we've been preparing ourselves mentally for what a sarcoma could mean for treatment.

The surgeon called late this afternoon after she got the biopsy results....it's an extranodal lymphoma, not a sarcoma!!!

After talking to the surgeon, Bruce immediately called his onc. We'll be picking up a copy of the pathology report tomorrow and Bruce will be having CT scans, a PET scan, lab tests, etc. done next week. Unfortunately, Bruce's onc. will be gone all next week, so Bruce won't be seeing him (nor having a bone marrow biopsy done) until Jan. 19th.

We'd like to thank everyone who was involved in the development of Bexxar, and we want to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who participated in helping Bruce to get Bexxar!....Bexxar gave Bruce a 3 year remission, which is pretty incredible when you consider what a quick & easy treatment it was, and that his previous remission had been proceeded by 4 years of almost continuous chemo.

We'd also like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Mark Kaminski. In addition to the role you played in the invention of Bexxar, you took the time to personally answer an email I sent you in 1997, even though Bruce wasn't your patient and you had never met us. During a bleak time in our lives, when Bruce was not doing well at all, you encouraged us to never give up. Thank you for being an incredible humanitarian, as well as a brilliant doctor and scientist!

We'd also like to thank everyone who has been holding Bruce up in prayer....Our battle begins again so, renewed or continued prayers would be greatly appreciated!

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Thursday, January 15, 2004
Yesterday, Bruce had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon that did his biopsy. She said his incision has healed well. Later in the day yesterday, he had his PET scan done. Today, Bruce will be having CT scans done - neck, chest, abdomen & pelvis.

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Monday, January 26, 2004
I'm sorry I took so long to give an update. Bruce's pathology report reads "malignant lymphoma, small cleaved type, diffuse and nodular". His PET scan was all clear, except for the incision area. Last week his onc said that would be expected with any surgery though, so it was hard to tell whether there were still cancer cells in that area or not (more about this in a minute). Bruce's CT scans were all clear! However, although it's a small amount, there IS some bone marrow involvement.

Now, for more news. Last week we thought we felt a tiny lump under the biopsy incision, near the left edge of the scar. We were all hoping it was just some weird scar tissue. Well, this week the lump grew considerably. Today his onc agreed that it's another tumor that has formed....AND, it seems that Bruce might also have lymphoma in his eye. Yikes!

This Wednesday Bruce has an appointment with an eye specialist, and some time soon (we're not sure when yet) he'll be seeing a lymphoma specialist.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Bruce saw the eye specialist today and the good news is...he does not have lymphoma in his eye! Instead, it's a paraneoplastic syndrome caused by the lymphoma. Once the lymphoma responds to treatment, his eye should clear up. Meanwhile, he's been put on prednisolone eye drops.

His appointment with the lymphoma specialist is scheduled for Tuesday, February 3rd.

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