Journal entry by Shirley Frashier —
I have been feeling much better since the catheter was put in. It has kept the fluid at managable levels and the amount of fluid accumulating is slowly decreasing. I am back at Mayo now for follow up with tests and scans to see how the treatment plan is working. The scans showed that the tumor in my lung has decreased to the size of a quarter from it's intial half dollar size and it has not spread. There was one surprise in the scans, I have a broken rib! Apparently, this spring I broke a rib from coughing. All the tests were in the normal range. This is all cause for a small celebration! The plan going forward is to redo all the scans in 3 months, then possibly zapping the tumor with some radiation. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts & prayers, phone calls, messages and emails to check in on me. It helps so much.
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