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Measuring change, growth or shrinkage in the tumor on my kidney is very difficult - nigh on impossible. It is shaped too irregular. I said early on that it is about the size of a baseball.That is about right, except from another angle it looks more like a bean - it is an irregularly shaped mass attached to my right kidney. I once saw a picture of a papillary renal cell carcinoma (my type) and it looked a little like a geode broken open and showing ugly crystals within. I have learned that most of this mass is comprised of dead cells - I believe the term is necrotic.

So, how do the docs at NIH/NCI measure changes? They picked 5 of the largest nodules in my lungs. Remember way back in January 2009 the first radiologist reported too many nodules to count? They are smaller than the kidney tumor and easier to measure change. Those 5 nodules of metastatic kidney cancer are my baseline tumors measuring change in size. At the end of my second cycle those 5 tumors showed a 1 to 3MM shrinkage. Not very much, but the first time in 22 months I heard the word shrinkage

That was wonderful news, giving us hope and determination to withstand the side affects of my combination of very powerful drugs. I was discouraged and for the first week since diagnosis considered (privately) stopping the treatment. The word shrinkage ended any real thought of stopping.

Even better! I communicate some with a very few patients with same type of cells. She started the same protocol a month before me. Her recent measurements show some shrinkage and "disappearance" of a few of the smaller metastatic nodules. Dude!~ Now I am almost eager (one foot on ground Bill) for my next bi-monthly end of cycle scans. Thanksgiving week. Good timing, eh?
Bill