Yes! A Good Report

I remember the day I was to start chemo and didn't because of spots that had appeared on a CT scan done the end of March.  For a good part of that day, what the oncologist was going to do was not settled.  Should I go up to Syracuse for a PET scan?  Will chemo be a different mix of drugs?

Dr. Benjamin and the radiology doctor decided that the spots were too small for a PET scan to do any good in determining whether or not those spots were cancerous.  (If they were, then my stage would be dropped to IV, which is the first stage of the incurables.)  The radiologist believed that the spots were nothing unusual.  These things sometimes show up in a body after surgery. 

So, the decision was that I go ahead with chemo the following week.  In July, after I finished chemo, I would have a CT scan to see if those spots were still there.

When I went to Dr. Benjamin's office for my first follow-up appointment, he had the results from the newer CT scan.  He said that the spots were no larger.  There were no additional ones.  The fact that they had not disappeared as a result of the chemo was also positive.  He was not yet ready then to say that we are in the clear; I could get my port out.  I would have one more CT scan before my December appointment.  If the spots had not grown, then he would no longer consider them a problem.  I could get my port out.

Today was that appointment.  The spots were gone!  I can get my port out next month -- something that has been a part of me since the end of March.  I am seeing another milestone about to be reached, and I am excited.

God is good.  The spots are gone!