An Octreoscan and a Visit with the Doctor

We spent the past two days at Intermountain Medical Center while Mer had an octreoscan. He was injected with a radioactive substance (indium-111) mixed with octreotide (the drug used to slow the tumor growth and ease the symptoms; the brand name is Sandostatin.) As the mixture went through Merlynn's system, it "lit up" his organs as it traveled throughout his body. Pictures were taken for about a half hour starting at noon on Monday, then for a couple of hours on Tuesday, followed by a CT scan. Most of the concoction eventually left his system, but it stayed and "stuck to" the tumors, making them "glow". By looking at the images, doctors were able to see where the tumors are located.

 

The biggest reasons we decided to have this scan done were to try to find the "primary" or original tumor, which is suspected to be somewhere else in Mer's body, and because the specialist we want to meet with in New Orleans said he wouldn't even see Merlynn unless he could see the results of this scan.

 

Okay, the results: Although the primary tumor site was not found during the octreoscan, and the scan does show 8 large tumors in his liver, we were happy to learn that the tumors do not appear to be in any other major organs. (The radiologist wasn't able to see a difference in the size of the tumors when he compared the CT scan results with the first one.)

 

The above picture shows the results of the octreoscan. You can see the tumors glowing in Merlynn's liver. I can only count 6, but the radiologist could see 8. (Tumors smaller that 2 cm don't show up on the scan.) The reason Merlynn's kidneys are aglow in the image is because some residual radioactive material was still there. There are no tumors in his kidneys.

 

Seeing Mer's liver lit up like a Christmas tree and knowing there are eight big tumors totally freaks me out and makes me cry. (Merlynn continues to remain calm and always dwells on the positive side of things.) We feel very blessed that the results were not worse and no tumors were found in his pancreas, kidneys, bowel, lungs, or spleen. Dr. Nibley also told us Mer's liver is still functioning normally, and that's good!

 

The doctor doesn't feel we need to go to more drastic measures at the present time to try to reduce or remove the tumors, but we'd still like to see what other options are out there and consult with doctors who are specialists in this field. There are only 10 specialists in the United States and none are in Utah, so we'll plan some fun trips and go see them!