Laura and I met with Dr. Robert Harris at the Ogden Regional Medical Center today. He is a radiation oncologist. We had Laura’s records from the HCH sent there for him to see so he could give a second opinion on the matter of radiation. As he went over the records, he mentioned that the tumor was just over an inch in diameter. I’d only heard the measurement in metric units so I was doing the conversion in my head as I heard him say that he didn’t recommend radiation treatments. Laura had a brief moment of joy until Dr. Harris realized that there was a typo in the records. He’d read only the summary from Dr. Neumayer. The actual biopsy behind the summary gave the true size of the tumor of 4.7 cm. That is more like two inches in diameter. He made a quick apology and reversed his recommendation without hesitation. Laura will return for an imaging scan on September 15, 2009 to be followed by 6 weeks of radiation treatments starting the next Monday (September 21).

It is strange that we both actually felt relieved. As we talked later, we realized that this was the right decision. Dr. Harris admitted that probably 9 of 10 women who undergo radiation treatments following breast cancer do so needlessly, but there is no way of knowing which women actually benefit from it. That is, without waiting until it is too late. It will require a lot of trips to South Ogden, but afterwards we will know that whatever happens in Laura’s case, we will have done everything we can do.

Laura is feeling a little better. It has been a week since the most recent chemo session. She has one more to do in two weeks. Then, she will have a few more weeks off until the radiation starts. Meanwhile, she has to coordinate everything with the reconstruction Doctor in Salt Lake City. She meets with him on Monday, August 10. The rest of the reconstruction will have to wait until after the radiation therapy. We are all doing OK. Laura is being remarkably patient. It takes a lot out of her, but she is willing to go though whatever it takes to be done with this.