My PET scan results were confirmed late the same night as my test. Wesley and I had stopped for a bite of dinner and my phone rang with a UChicago number. My doctor was on the other end to confirm that the PET scan showed no areas of concern. No more cancer!
So much of this experience has been so strange. I had very few symptoms before my diagnosis, so the cancer has always seemed in some ways like a remote, theoretical problem. After my first PET scan, it was literally just brights spots on a screen. When we reviewed the images of this next PET scan, there were no bright spots on the screen, none.
My doctor is an oncologist, not a radiologist, so he showed me the images. They looked good to me, and he confirmed he thought they looked good to him. Then we just had to wait for the radiologist to confirm it. He did!
I’m so relieved to know the cancer is gone. So relieved that sometimes I forget I’m not yet at the end of this journey.
The hope was my body would respond well enough to the chemo to find myself in remission here after 2 cycles of chemo. That does not get me off the hook for finishing the remaining cycles of chemo. It’s sort of like when you’re sick, and get prescribed an antibiotic. Sometimes, you feel a lot better after just a couple of days on an antibiotic, but you still have to finish the full 10 days or so of the prescription. We’ve got to make sure this thing is good and dead!
I’m waiting to be randomized in the trial, so I don’t yet know exactly what this next chapter of chemo looks like. I have my next treatment on May 16, so I will know then!
One arm of the trial would include two more cycles of the same ABVD I’ve already received, then three months of immunotherapy. The other arm would give me a different chemo drug along with the immunotherapy for 3 cycles. One arm is shorter but I don’t know how I will feel on two brand new drugs. The other arm is longer, but the chemo is at least familiar, predictable. I could guess how I might continue to feel for the next few months until I get to the immunotherapy.
I’m grateful, oh so so so grateful for the miracle of this remission. It does feel like a miracle, even though pieces of the miracle are the wonders of modern medicine.
The joy of the news, however, keeps making me feel like I have made it to the finish line. I haven’t. This is some strength for the journey ahead, though.
Keep me in your prayers, if you will! Pray that I am assigned the arm of the trial the Lord wills me to walk. Pray that my body keeps walking this journey towards health. Pray for the amazing people supporting me through this. Most of all, though, pray for those more sick than I am, who aren’t celebrating remission this week.
Hallelujah!!!! 🙌😇🙏🩷
And happy Mother’s Day to you!!
Love you, and rejoicing in this good news as I pray for your continued strength through this next leg of your journey. ❤️