[MGordon]

I know your Dr. is the radio-oncologist and I am just a support group member, but I need to pass on information from our radio-onc.

Scanning (MRI, etc) too soon after WBR gives way too many false positives. The analogy our onc used was roasting marshmellows in a microwave. If you put marshmallows in a microwave and radiaite them them swell to several times their size, and after the radiation stops, then the collapse into the dead hardened cells. Your tumors in this analogy are the marshmallows and right now they've swollen to several times thier initial size as they've been radiated. After time the will collapse down into "white matter" and then be smaller than their original size. If the scans are run before these tumors have had a chance to reduce to white matter things may look alot worse than they really are. With WBR there is a chance that tumors that were previously too small to identify on scans are now swollen as well and scans now can may make it look like there are new tumors. All in all our onc said the only reliable metric was to give enough time after rads before scanning. See if you can convince your onc to stick to the six weeks after scan regime.

My 2 cents and I hope all is well.

Love and Light
Mel

Oh yeah - and hang in there! The best Drs. in the world may not be very people-skilled - i.e. bad bed side manner. The stories I could tell... Hang in there, get what you need, and give your onc your feedback - if he/she never hears how this effects you they do not know to change...