Good News

Hey everyone, thanks for reading. It's been a good couple of weeks. First, last Monday Meg and I had my consultation with the Radiologist and the process was better than expected. Starting the week of December 6th I start receiving daily doses of radiation for 2.5 weeks (weekends off). I should be done before Christmas.....nice. Additionally, because it's a shorter time table the side affects will be limited. Tiredness (I've only been tired for the last 2.5 years, so no biggie there), and I may get a sore throat that may last a couple of weeks after the last dose of radiation. I expected the sore throat part to be much more harsh, but because I'm only getting treatment for 2.5 weeks, the throat doesn't get too damaged. Lucky again. So today I go back in for a few hours and get tested (CT Scan), get some small tattoos so they know where to zap me each time, and get a body mold done so that I'm in the same position every time.

The second piece of good news came last week as well. Last Tuesday I went in for my PET Scan....this is the big one! The PET Scan tells me if the Chemo worked. For those who don't know....For a PET Scan, via an IV, I get a radio active trace put in me (nuclear something or other). I then sit in a dark and quiet room for 1 hour while it moves throughout my body. Then I get in the MRI-like machine for 25 minutes. That's it...no pain or anything like that....just boring. On Wednesday Dr. Yee called with the results....no abnormal tracer uptake, no abnormal metabolic activity.....in other words, the PET Scan was GOOD and I don't need anymore Chemo. Phew....I made it....YESSSSSS! There was a little scar tissue where the Lymphoma was, but that was almost expected and doesn't mean much.

So, even though my PET Scan was clear and the Lymphoma is gone, it's still highly recommended that I go through Radiation (and I will), as it can still raise the overall survival rate. Just to recap from an earlier post, in my situation, Radiation can help about 1 in 10 people, but they don't know who the "1" person will be.....so they recommend that everyone gets radiation (in my situation).

So from here I receive the radiation treatment, probably get another CT Scan when they're done. Then I'll basically see Dr. Yee every 3 months, doing a new PET Scan every other visit with Dr. Yee. I'll do that for a year, then it will gradually slow down.

Lyric Of The Day: "Life is beautiful, but it's complicated and we barely make it.....we don't need to understand, there are miracles.....miracles." (Vega 4, Life Is Beautiful)

That's it for now....I'll chat more during the Radiation.

Cheers