Great scan results, Good report from doctor

Well, readers of my other blog will know that I had PET and CT scans a couple of weeks ago at the end of June, and the results were a big Negative, which is an even bigger POSITIVE in terms of my health ... In other words, no evidence of disease! So that was great news. Today I saw my doctor for my 3-monthly appointment, and we went through my big list of questions (which I always seem to accumulate to take to him!) Of course there were a few that I somehow didn't get to, but most of them got answered.

I asked him about Stem Cell collections (actually I meant to ask him about potential Stem Cell Transplants, particularly a mini Allo, but somehow we didn't get to that!) Anyway, after my last chemo we were trying for a stem cell collection, but the required stem cells just weren't materialising, so it never happened. I'd heard about a new drug called AMD3100 that supposedly mobilises 5-8 times more stem cells than Neupogen alone, so I asked him about this. He said that it's still in trials, and isn't available for use in Australia. But he said that as my blood counts were improving (more about that later) he thought that maybe at the beginning of 2009 we might be able to try again for a stem cell collection, using some other drug that I hadn't heard of and can't remember (!) He said that if we tried now it would most likely not succeed as my blood counts weren't high enough, but hopefully in a few months' time it would. He also said that he wouldn't be planning on giving me chemo as part of that procedure.

On the blood test results, my levels are slowly (slowly!) getting better:

Haemoglobin - 111
Platelets - 106 (first time they've been in 3 figures for a year!)
White Cell Count - 2.8
Neutrophils - 1.2

Still low compared to when I started on this 'interesting' journey, but creeping up all the time. I read somewhere about someone whose blood levels took over 2 years to recover. Doctor B said that mine may never recover to what they were but they would be 'acceptable' and enough to keep me from getting infections etc - in other words, to do the job my white blood cells are meant to do.

What else - oh yes, my portacath can come out! I've got an appointment for that to happen in about 3 weeks' time - yeay! As he said, if I need it again it isn't any big drama to put one back in.

We discussed future scans. He said it was up to me whether I had them regularly. He feels he can tell what's happening with me without them, so it depended on whether I needed that extra check. He said he probably wouldn't recommend PET scans anyway as they often give false positives. In the end we agreed on yearly CT scans, which I'm happy about. Interestingly, he said something to the effect that early detection of a recurrence wouldn't affect treatment. In other words, it didn't matter if it wasn't found for a while ...

I also told him about a NY Times article I'd read recently stating that cancer was becoming more of a chronic illness than a 'death sentence' (which I'd never taken it as anyway!) He said that was exactly what he'd been telling students recently!

So anyway, I'm very happy about things! I see him again in 3 months time - no doubt with a new list of questions! But right now I'm happy to let my remission from NHL take a back seat in my life.

I'll be back posting here in October after my next appointment - in the meantime those who are interested in following my 'normal life' can do so here!

:)