3/23/09

Well, this may be one of the first tough moments of the road we're going down. We met with the doctors at the radiology department about radiation therapy. Cranial radiation to be exact. It's definitely recommended, and part of his regimen, but it's not forced. And it has it's issues.

Yes, it is radiation directly to the brain area. All of his hair will fall out. He may have some temporary or not-so-temporary damage to his cognitive skills. There is a chance of getting another kind of cancer as a result of this therapy. I think the rate is that 5% of patients get minor, treatable tumors at the surface of the brain, and a much smaller percentage get more complicated tumors deeper in the brain area. Small chance of cataracts. 

The overall rate of relapse due to NOT having radio-therapy is about 43%. But the study quoted from that didn't say if the leukemia relapsed in the bone marrow or in the spinal fluid (which is what the radiation therapy would be targeting). 

And to be fair to the statistics, there just isn't enough information on KD's age group. The overwhelming number of people with ALL are younger than 6 or older than 50. And those two age groups have wildly different recovery rates for the different kinds of treatment. And much different side effects. There just isn't a whole lot of information that applies to KD's age group.

I know, that's a lot of numbers and not a lot about what is going on yet. We are going to talk to our regular doctors at the clinic tomorrow to see if they have statistics focused on KD's type of cancer and/or age group. At the radiology department they treat all kinds of cancer so don't have all of the data memorized for his case. Maybe we'll be closer to a decision tomorrow. 

Basically he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't, but which way will he be more damned?