What do we know now?

Not much that is new, unfortunately.

We have an appointment with the Oncologist, Dr Fisher, Monday at 10:30AM. That is when we learn if Mary will be doing radiation or chemo first. And, if it is chemo, if its mild or aggressive.

Today's test, the biphasic CT scan, was from her neck to her groin. As one Stanford web page said, cholangiocarcinoma can seed itself to other organs: pancreas, lymph nodes, duodenum, bowel, bladder, rectum, ovaries or lungs. This seeding is called intra-peritoneal dissemination and is quite common with this disease. You can read a description of the biphasic CT scan by clicking on this link under the paragraph entitled "Evaluation of Liver Cancer." Apparently, the biphasic CT scan can detect very small tumor sites that would be missed by other imaging techniques.

If nothing is found in the biphasic CT scan, does that mean Mary is clean of disseminated cancer cells? OR, does it mean they are too small to detect now? If they are too small, when can they be detected? Or, do they blast Mary with aggressive chemo because they cannot find microscopic cancer cells? Only time will tell. Hopefully, we'll know more on Monday with Dr. Fisher.