What a Relief!

What with the delights of modern technology I had to wait a little longer for my scan results than I had expected, but I got them this morning. The results are good, the scan is 'clear' but not completely negative, the radiologist remarked that he doesn't think there is any active Hodgkin's presents...However there are always quirks! There are some areas of uptake which the radiologist referred to as 'brown fat'. Apparently some people, not many, have these active areas of brown fat which can show up on PET scans. Other indications that the cancer has gone are that there are no active areas in the lymph nodes or in the area that was a concern on the chest x-ray. My consultant also remarked that my lymph nodes had reduced in size from my last CT scan...all good signs.

I also had another bit of good news over the past few days...I entered the lymphoma association's photography competition 'Look at Life Differently' and although my photo wasn't in the top twelve entries they want to use my photograph on the back of their calender! This is it below. To see the winning entries click here.

It is funny how things happen, On Monday I changed my 'count down to last chemo' at the bottom of my page to 2 weeks, a day early! From today it really is two weeks...roll on the 11th September now!

Thanks Dr for buggering up my Weekend!

Well as with all good things they do come to an end! Chemotherapy didn't quite go as planned today. Went in as normal, saw my consultant and then waited for him to review my chest x-ray which I have at the beginning of every cycle. We waited and waited, then the Dr came back and said that he had just noticed a radiologists remark on the previous cycles chest x-ray, I don't understand all the medical jargon but basically an enlarged lymph node in the right side of my chest - possibly an indication that things aren't as stable as they seem. My Dr did say that he couldn't see any difference between the chest x-rays but he isn't a radiologist. So wanted to get it checked out. Chemotherapy was cancelled for the day and I am scheduled in for an emergency PET scan on Thursday. If the result comes back negative which he suspects, then I will have chemo on Friday...which buggers up my beer festival weekend. If it comes back and shows something then we have to revert to plan B.

Not The News I Had Hoped For - Bummer!

My Doctor rang on Thursday with my scan results, he said my scan results were positive, the main bulk of the cancer was now negative and he was really pleased with it, but there was a small area of pet positivity in the left side of my neck. The consequences of this being that he wants to give me eight cycles of ABVD now not six which I had hoped for. He did say that 8 cycles is the standard for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Got off the phone and was very upset, 8 cycles felt like such a blow. So I hadn't reached the half way point yesterday after all. What with now having to have eight cycles and a port; tied to handcuffs for a while longer then!