Doctors Appointment at Moffitt on 5/3/06

Heath had an appointment on Wednesday, 5/3/06, to have an MRI scan to see how the tumor is reacting to the chemo and to meet with his oncology doctor about future treatments.

They didn't have an MRI scan of Heath just before he started chemo so they had to compare it to a scan that was taken several months ago so it was a little difficult for them to tell us exactly how the tumor has changed since he started chemo. From what they could tell us, it kind of appears that there are some dead cells around some parts of the tumor so that might indicate that the chemo is shrinking the tumor. They will take another scan after this next cycle of chemo, in about 5 to 6 weeks, to get a much better idea of how the tumor is reacting since they will have something to compare it to.

They are going to change the protocol for his chemo slightly. He will get one round of Adriamycin & Cisplatin and two rounds of Methotrexate per cycle over a 5 week time frame.

We are lucky to have the option to go to Boston and have Proton Beam Radiation but we are praying that the chemo alone will kill the tumor and keep us from having to go to Boston at all.