mrockwell: (Default)
[personal profile] mrockwell
Writing

I don't think it's a great secret to those who know me that I'm not a big Scalzi fan. However, in the spirit of helping out fellow authors, I'd like to direct you to this post of his, RE: the Amazon-Macmillan War. I should note that this doesn't affect me personally, but I think it's worrisome enough to call your attention to it. It's hard enough to make any kind of living as a writer without having the place you get most of your sales from refuse to carry your work for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with you. So, read the post, and, if you're so inclined, do what Scalzi says. Because even a broken clock is right twice a day. Heh.

Everything Else

So, no scans today after all. After going to the clinic to get Max's port accessed and then heading over to PCH for Max's injection -- AND waiting about three hours -- the radiologist refused to do it. Apparently there's some European study out saying that blood pressure and heart medications (which Max has been on since diagnosis) can give false negatives on the scans. They supposedly interfere with the body's ability to absorb the isotope needed to show how active the tumor is, meaning that you could get clean scans when the disease is actually still there.

Max's oncologist was unaware of the study (and I'm sure he's not the only one, as kids with NB are often on blood pressure meds and these scans are routine -- Max has already had two done while on the meds), so he's consulting with Max's nephrologist and the COG study chair and hopefully together they can come up with some consensus as to our next course of action. Right now it looks like there are three possibilities: 1) make no changes to Max's medication and go ahead with the scans as planned, though now we'd have to do them next week, 2) switch Max to a different medication (one that would require daily trips to the clinic to get his blood pressure monitored) and do the scans in two weeks, or 3) take Max off the medication completely and do the scans in two weeks.

Whatever the decision, it's all been very frustrating, and it means that the scanxiety is going to be dragged out for at least another week. And on top of THAT, we now have to worry that if this study is correct, does that mean Max's previous scans could be inaccurate? Could he have more disease left than we think? God, what an awful thought! If I thought my stomach was in knots before, it's nothing compared to the pit of roiling acid that's taken up residence there now. :(

Date: 2010-02-04 01:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hewet-ka-ptah.livejournal.com
Damn.

Breathing is good.

Thinking of you.

February 2026

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
1516 1718192021
22232425262728

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Mar. 11th, 2026 08:48 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios