Day 86 – Saturday (11/17/18)
Next blog update will be posted by Saturday, November 24th, at midnight.
Hello again everyone. Another week is in the books. 6 down, 12 to go. I received some very encouraging news this past Thursday. The doctor went over my latest PET scan with me, and showed me the progress we are making. The scan is below. Here are some notes that may help properly interpret the scan. The dark spots are active cancers cells. Ignore the heart, and the two places I X’d out. Those are organs that always look dark on the scan. You can see that the dark spots that were around my neck and shoulders are completely gone. Also, the main mass is basically dead at this point. There is still some activity, but very little. It has shrunk some, but that is not the primary focus of the chemo. The chemo is simply to kill the cells, and the radiation afterward will do the shrinking. So, all in all, this scan looks very promising. However, there is one item that showed up on the scan that needs further attention. I will discuss below.
The item that showed up on both scans is a small area in / near my stomach that is showing up as a “hot spot”. The spot appears small (I wasn’t given the measurements), and did not grow any during the 2 months between scans. However, it does appear “active”, and did not show reduced activity on the second scan. The doctor wants to keep an eye on this. It could be nothing. It could be an ulcer. Or it could be stomach cancer. If the spot was from the non-hodgkins lymphoma, it should die with the rest of Blobby and his friends. If it is not, it will stay a hot spot. The chemo regiment I’m currently on would not take care of stomach cancer. If it turns out to be cancer, another treatment plan would have to be put in place. The next PET scan will not be until the beginning of February when all of my cycle’s are complete. If the spot is still there, the doctor said they will need to go in with a camera and see what it is. So, my prayer over the next few months will simply be that the spot will be gone at my next scan, so that I can wrap up all this cancer talk and move on with life. For those of you that have been praying for/with me, I’d ask that this be your prayer as well. With that said, if the spot is still there in February, and it turns out to be something, at least God allowed us to catch it very early.
I guess the only other important info from this week is that I did start my 3rd cycle this past Thursday. Everything went well, but as I type, I’m having the expected nausea and metallic taste in my mouth that makes everything yucky. This usually lasts for 1 week, then fades away. Other than that, all is good!
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for the awesome results that I received this week; that we are making good progress killing Blobby. It is somewhat unfortunate about the spot in my stomach, but I know You have a plan, and You already know what it is (if anything). I pray that You would deal with this spot over the next few months, leading up to my next scan. If it is Your will, I pray that the spot would be gone completely. I also continue to pray for my son and our neighbor(s) with broken feet… Yes, I found out a second neighbor had foot surgery also. My son and one of the neighbors have follow-up visits on Monday. I pray that both visits show progress in the right direction. I’m thankful that even when things may seem overwhelming, You have it all under control. I love You Lord, amen.