Day 170 – Saturday (02/09/19)

Next blog update will TRY to be posted by Saturday, February 16th, at midnight.

Hello everyone!  Below you will see my 3 PET scans so far, and the progress we have made between each one.  You will notice in the latest one, you can’t even make out the outline of Blobby anymore.

So, what did the doctor tell me this week?  Overall it was very good news.  Let’s start with Blobby.  He is pretty much completely evicted at this point.  The PET scan showed very little to no activity.  This confirms that I will not need anymore chemo.  We will still go ahead with radiation as planned.  The purpose of the radiation is to kill off any lingering microscopic cancer cells that may not have been detected on the PET scan.  The benefits of the radiation is that it decreases the likelihood of any re-occurrence.  With how far I have come, I’m not going to take any chances.  If radiation will help prevent this from coming back in the future, I’m all in.  I meet with the radiation doctor next week for a consultation where he will explain how this process works.  I will provide the details from that visit in my next blog post.

Now for the stomach spot.  When the doctor scrolled through all the PET scan slices, he pulled up the stomach spot from the first scan and the last scan.  The first scan was a bright, vivid circular spot.  The most recent scan had a slight halo, non vivid “blur”.  Basically, the spot was gone.  Odds are, the spot was an ulcer caused by stress, and it has (is) healing itself.  While the doctor is very confident the spot is not cancer at this point, he wants to cover all his basis.  This means I will go ahead and have an endoscopy performed, so they can be 100% sure.  I have a consultation for this next week as well.  The actual procedure date has not been determined yet.

In summary, we are making excellent progress.  I am not fully in remission yet, but I should be soon as we get through the radiation process.  After the consultations this week, I should be able to put together a timeline to remission.  On a side note, I have now been back to work for a full week.  I’m feeling strong, no fatigue issues, and I was welcomed back by everyone.  While my days are more hectic now, I feel like life is back to my perception of normal.

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for the great report I received this week.  Thank You for having the spot in my stomach all but disappear.  I understand the benefits of going ahead with the endoscopy to be 100% sure, and the benefits of going through with the radiation.  I pray that You would give me continued strength as we wrap up this chapter of my life.  Thank You for helping me re-acclimate to work quickly and easily.  Thank You for giving me the endurance I need to make it through the days.  I plan to give the church a quick summary/update tomorrow, and I pray that You would give me the words that the congregation needs to hear.  I want to thank them and my family for their support through this trial, and I want to make sure that You get the glory for everything that has transpired over the past months.  We serve a mighty God.  Amen.