The Way Forward

(Please Ford don't sue me I stole your slogan)

Greetings All,

Today I had my follow up visit with the Oncologist to get the results of my bone marrow biopsy and my PET scan. I am happy to report that the biopsy came back normal and the PET scan showed no further cancerous areas. This means that I am officially in Stage 1A. Stage 1A is basically that I have a cancerous tumor and nothing else and that I exhibit no other symptoms like night sweats, rapid weight loss, etc. The bottom line is that we caught it early. Thank God for Mono, and I mean that literally. With all the tests behind me I can finally start treatment.

I had a chance to go to a Chemo informational class at the hospital but it only meets on Thursday and they couldn't fit me in to tomorrow's class. If I waited until next Thursday then I'm losing another week before I start. I decided to forego the class, at this point I just want to get started.

My first Chemo treatment will start next Thursday the 10th. It was originally scheduled for the 9th but the office called and said they were booked. After that I will go every other Wednesday for Chemo for 4 months, 8 treatments in all. After that I'll go through another PET scan, if that is clean then I'll do a round of radiation to make sure the tumor is completely eliminated. If the PET scan is not clean I'll do another 2 months of Chemo and then radiation. The Oncologist says that with this course of treatment there's about a 90% cure rate. It's amazing to me that I have a 90% chance of getting rid of this and it never coming back again. That's the kind of stuff that makes you want so badly to find the trick for all these other types of cancer.

I was also given 3 prescriptions, 2 for nausea I can take at home once treatment starts and 1 that apparently helps to prevent Gout. I was told that once Chemo starts cancer cells can die rapidly and when they do they release acid into the body that can cause Gout. So I take this drug for the first 2 weeks of treatment to prevent it, which sounds like an entirely good idea to me. The doc says that side effects for the most part will be nausea and fatigue. The fatigue thing I'm not worried about, we have 2 kids, I have chronic fatigue. It's a way of life. The nausea he says is pretty manageable for the most part and I plan right now on only missing work for the day of Chemo. I'm feeling a little nervous about actually starting treatment but I'm very relieved that we can start moving forward.

Thanks again all of you who read and have been encouraging me with comments, emails, prayers, positive thoughts, and all the above. Now the real fun can finally begin.

Peace,
Ben