In my last post I mentioned that a new pet scan was ordered and it would be a benchmark for seeing if the cancer was being treated. Well the good news...my Doc says I am cancer free. If you look at the prior scan, pretty much all the white spots are completely gone. The chemo has demolished the cancer and it really is an amazing thing to see.
Now the mixed bag portion and a little history behind it. Back in January I had a lymph node biopsied in my pelvis. This was the "fun with long needles" test I mentioned in a prior blog. What I've learned is that the Doc's really take a less invasive approach when possible. Instead of just cutting me open and risking all that has to offer, they start with the methods that are much less invasive looking for a diagnosis. Well this biopsy showed no cancer. It came back as a "granuloma" which is a fancy term for inflammation. What it meant, was that the node in question was fighting an infection within the node and not cancer. The node was approximately the size of a lemon, which is huge for a lymph node, but there was a chance that I did not have cancer but some other type of lymph disorder. The second biopsy was done surgically and taken from behind my heart. This one showed the classic hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and so began the chemo.
So after my last scan, which was just last Friday, my Doc called me on Monday and told me that my scan was not completely clean. There are about 5 nodes that are still fired up but he thinks that it is a byproduct of the cancer and not the cancer itself. I was completely devastated, and I mean completely. No sleeping on Monday night, nothing but worry, loathing and end of life thoughts. This was just as bad as the initial blindside and it really destroyed me for about 24 hours.
I met the Doc the next day on Tuesday prior to chemo and thank God I did. He really spent some time explaining what was happening and what it meant. The "failed" biopsy in January is really a Godsend and he completely believes I am 100% cancer free. The 5 or so lymph nodes that are still hot spots on the scan are just fighting an infection caused by the cancer. He explained it like this:
"Say lightning hits a field and a grass fire starts, lets call this grass fire the cancer. The fire will move along the field engulfing all in its path. It burns down buildings trees and eventually comes to an area where someone dumped some tires. Well, it catches the tires on fire and they just sit and smolder. The fire department comes along and puts out the major problem, the grass fire, but now they have to contend with the tire fire. The tire fire isn't going anywhere and is really harmless, but they want to put it out anyway."
So I do believe I am cancer free, but now we will be working on figuring out what is causing the granuloma. It may require another biopsy so we'll see.
As a side note, thank God for Rhonda. I had chemo on Tuesday, on Wednesday my oldest had knee surgery and today she is going for a job interview. She has been burning it from both ends lately and she is my HERO!!!!!
