Thanks Dede....

Biopsy confirmed Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Not great news, but better than what we thought - Small Cell Lung Cancer....

Liz had her first treatment today, 5.5 weeks after first diagnosis on Feb 18th. We would still be waiting if not for a sharp Radiology technician at her Oncologist who went out of his way to get her in today rather than later in the week.

She will be receiving 2 weeks (10 days) of 6 MeV photon radiation treatment to two areas of her brain receiving 300 centigray (cGy) each treatment for a total absorbed dose of 3000 cGy or 30 Gray. To put this in perspective, the maximum allowable absorbed dose for a nuclear worker to a single organ is 0.5 Gray over one year. One area is at the base of the brainstem and top of the spinal column. The other area is mid-front right lobe. They will be using Arc methodology consisting of approximately 50 degree arc patterns to apply the photon beam from side to side thus minimizing the radiation exposure to her more sensitive optic nerves, hippocampus, and brainstem areas of the brain. They will rescan each week to determine the effectiveness of the treatments and modify, if needed. The Radiologist does not expect Liz to experience any negative cognitive affects from the treatments due to the location of the lesions - I hope he is right!!

Once the brain radiation treatments are completed they will concentrate on the chemo therapy. They are using the Guardian 360 genomic testing kit to evaluate the cancer for specific DNA traits and we should have the results before the radiation treatments are completed.