ugh, part 2

So, hey, Dr. Merchant actually called. She is quickly gaining ground on my favorite doctor list. Here's the deal, as I understand it; Sloan-Kettering does not think its osteosarcoma. Apparently, "undifferentiated sarcoma of the bone" is an actual type of sarcoma, not just a we-don't-really-know diagnosis. Dr. M talked with the pathologist who did the analysis, who said that he/she could understand why someone who didn't see bone sarcomas every day could think this was definatly osteosarcoma, but that it isn't presenting like osteo. Something about how the cancer cells/bone cells/soft tissue cells are interconnected...I don't know, but its different, as far as they can tell. And, while this doesn't make much of a difference in terms of prognosis, it does make a difference in terms of treatment protocal. Instead of the methotrexate on Monday, she will be getting five days of adriamycin and isofamide. Apparently, this form doesn't really respond to the cisplatin (thank goddess, since that is the nastiest of the chemos they had her on), nor the methotrexate, but does respond to the adriamycin (hence the shrinkage after the first round) and isofamide. And, and this is kind of cool, she won't need any more adjuvant chemo...sometime in the next month or so, she'll have the excision surgery. They will be able to tell for sure what it is once they take it out and can "slice it like a loaf of bread" and see the whole tumor. If it turns out they are correct, then they'll continue with the adriamycin/isofamide post-adjuvant. If it turns out that it is osteo, they'll go back to the original protocal, with no real loss of progress as osteo responds to isofamide as well.

So surgery in July...and a lot less chemo. I'm torn between crying my eyes out and throwing a party...I don't think this has processed yet, and i don't know really what it means. Time to spend some quality google time and learn more about this shit.