We got the call at around 1pm... unhappy news. Viable cancer was found in the biopsies, so a surgical solution is now out of the question. A lot of biopsy locations were examined in the mediastinum area, especially the lymph nodes there. The lab report doesn't quantify the results in any way (such as how many showed cancer, or how much)... this was basically a "pass-fail" type of examination.
The radiation and chemo combination killed off a lot of the cancer, but not all of it, and most importantly, not all of it outside of the affected lung, which could have otherwise been removed for an expected long-term cure. They can't sugically "clean out" the area between the lungs. We'll be going back to the cancer center probably on Thursday to meet with the oncologist to talk about other options... which at this point are almost certainly only different chemo trials. Lisa has already had a lifetime limit of radiation treatments to the chest area during the last few months, so we know there won't be any more of that.
Michael
