Today’s appointments and procedures were all with neurosurgery. Isn’t this X-ray of the hardware in Kendall’s spine impressive? This side image was taken earlier today.
We knew that his oncology team was going to publish about Kendall’s case, but today we learned that the circumstances around his back surgery were also extremely rare (only eight previously published accounts of similar cases). They asked for (and received) permission to write up and publish his case and include his imaging like the one I included here.
Because of all the X-rays they needed to do today, Kendall’s PET scan that was originally scheduled for tomorrow needed to be moved to next week. Apparently the radiation from the X-rays might have interfered with PET scan imaging. We’re not sure how that might affect when he will be hospitalized for the next round of chemo, but we should learn more tomorrow. He has labs and several appointments on Friday, but the biggest thing is his bone marrow biopsy. Kendall’s last bone marrow biopsy happened while he was still in the hospital and not really walking much, so we’re not sure how it might affect his walking now (which he is able to do with a cane). Guess we’ll see!
It has been so nice having a few days off from the chemo. Kendall was definitely feeling better and he said that food was tasting 80% normal (a huge improvement from before). He was also able to meet with some pain specialists earlier this week, so his pain is better managed. After such a hard weekend, today has been a much-appreciated good day.