THE BIG MAYBE

I was ready to get back to living my life without having to take chemo treatments. My Life was great. My food started to taste normal again, my energy returned, certain smells no longer made me want to vomit, I stopped feeling sick all the time and  I started to regain my coordination. Although, I still had painful headaches everyday.  The BIG MAYBE was… how long would my Remission last?

I went to see my primary doctor to find out why I was having headaches every day. I told him I tried the over the counter medications but they didn't work, Excedrin Migraine, Caffeine, Tylenol, and Ibuprofen, nothing worked. After examination, I was diagnosed as having tension headaches that would change into migraines. He prescribed a medication that would help me deal with these painful headaches. It would not prevent them and I would lose up to four hours per day dealing with them. Just another side effect from the treatments that would last for a dozen years.

I received my first post treatment CT Scan three months after I finished treatments. For the time being, I was only going to have Scans of the chest and neck because there were no enlarged lymph nodes in my groin area. I went to get my CT Scans on February 3 1999. The results were as follows:

IMPRESSION: Mild cervical lymphadenopathy in patient, with lymph nodes measuring less then 1.5 cm in size within both posterior and anterior triangles. The appearance is not significantly changed since 10-30 -98.

That was good news. I went to see my Dr. for a follow up visit and his assessment was that I was doing well and at present was asymptomatic. From the beginning, I was not sold on this doctor. As a patient, I was educating myself about my disease and the treatments available both medical and homeopathic. My doctor was not really on the program. I would ask him questions and it was as if I knew more then he did. He was also reluctant to recommend anything different. He said the insurance companies didn't like it. He did not provide the answers I wanted to hear.

I stayed with this doctor for three more CT SCANS until April 2000. The RESULTS of these scans were:

8-09-1999 No significant change. 

04-13-2000  Hypodense mass in the spleen on CT Scan of retroperitoneum. (anatomical space in the abdominal cavity)  We thought it was a growth in my spleen, but it just turned out to be a shadow or possibly scar tissue. My luck continued.

03-31-2000  Level III, IV, and V cervical adenopathy (swollen/enlarged lymph nodes) There has been a slight progression of the disease since the previous August 1999 study particularly in the posterior triangles.

Damn, my Lymphoma was slow coming back and it had only been 1½ years. Lucky it was a slow growing cancer and I was hoping I would be able to extend my time between treatments. I had already decided to find a new oncologist but I went ahead to go see my doctor for my follow up visit. After consultation, we agreed to take the wait and see approach.

Until Next Time ...when I meet my new doctor.