Test Result Update

So for those of you who haven't heard my recent update on my test results I will explain everything here. 


I received my latest test results from my PET scan last Friday, June 8 and I must admit, it wasn't at all what I had hoped for.


After 8 months of chemo and 22 rounds of radiation I was really expecting to hear that all of the cancer was gone and I was free to go and live my life.


On the contrary, my doctor greeted me with a concerned expression and began asking me how I was feeling. I replied that I felt great and "normal." I joined the gym in May and have been working out regularly both cardio and strength training. I also joined a Zumba class which I have enjoyed immensely.


I dare say I have out worked many of my younger and healthier friends! 
Needless to say, with this wonderful report of my recovery I was expecting my doctor to be quite impressed. He wasn't. 


He showed us my first PET scan back in July of last year and as expected, the tumor on my right lung was glowing bright orange and completely covered my lung. He pointed out to us that the cancer was very 'alive' and active at that time. 


Then he pulled up my latest test results from May 29, 2012 and at first, I couldn't see anything on the lung. Both lungs were completely black, which is air and is supposed to look like that. 


Then my doctor zoomed in and I could see three very tiny pink spots on the outer ring of the right lung about the size of a nickel. 


He explained that it could just be inflammation from allergies or it could be some small areas of lymphoma still holding on. The only way we will know for sure is to do a biopsy.


There are two types of biopsy that is available for testing the spots on my lung. I could have a CT biopsy where they would take a CT scan while going in through my chest wall and biopsying the spots with long needles or I could have another surgical biopsy where they would remove the upper lobe of my right lung (and possibly more) and cut the lung into sections and test the spots that way. The spots are too small simply just to remove them from the lung. 


My doctor didn't recommend the CT biopsy because I had 5 of those the first time around just trying to figure out what type of cancer I had and as large as the mass was they still never gathered any live cells.


So it looks like my only option at this point will be to have a surgical biopsy, lose a lobe of my lung to testing and hope that it's just inflammation and not cancer.


I will speak with the surgeon who performed my first biopsy sometime in the next week to discuss my options. 


If it's just inflammation from something as minor as allergies or a cold, they will still remove the inflamed part of the lung, sew me up and just watch me. No treatments or further testing will be necessary at that time. 


If it is proved to be cancerous, they will remove the infected part of the lung and then do hard chemo for about a month. 


For hard chemo, I would be kept in a state of drug induced coma for the duration of the treatments, and they would remove all of my bone marrow via IV just as if I was donating blood. They would then run in the chemo treatments and basically strip me of everything. My doctor told me they would take me down to nothing as if I was a newborn baby starting out all over again. I would lose all of my hair, DNA chain would be slightly changed, blood type might change and I would have to have all of my infant and toddler shots all over again.


During these treatments they would grow my bone marrow and create stem cells from my own blood. This process is called "stem cell transplants." 


At the end of this process they would re-inject my bone marrow back into my body along with the stem cells they had grew and I would slowly be brought out of the coma state. 


This process and treatment is extremely risky and used as a last resort only because the process itself can kill you. 


BUT if you go through it and survive you are forever cured of Lymphoma and it can never come back because the DNA and cells in your body that were compiled to create the cancer cells have been broken and destroyed forever. This is not to say that you wouldn't get another type of cancer though as this process only cures Lymphoma.


I pray that I do not have to experience this as it would be harder than anything I have been through so far. I am asking anyone and everyone who reads this to please pray for me and my husband. 


Add us to your prayer list at church and please hold us up in your daily prayer time as we are asking God for a miracle that I won't have to experience this.


I will update my blog after we speak with the surgeon and see what he recommends. 
As it stands now, we really don't know anymore than we did before seeing the doctor except that there is still something on the lung. It could be inflammation or cancer, at this point we won't know until further testing is done.