The Results Show

The results of my tests are in.

1. The bone marrow biopsy is negative. Done deal.

2. The PET scan results were "good but not perfect", as the doctor put it. All my various nodes and internal problems (megalospeny, for example) have resolved, and they couldn't find any active cancer that could be identified as such. There are two nodes in my groin that are slightly larger and slightly more active than they would like. They can't really say that they are cancerous, and my doctor feels that they most likely are not.

But to make sure, he wants to have then biopsied in August, and since the nodes are relatively small and fairly deep, it'll have to be a CT-guided needle biopsy so they can be sure they're getting a sample of the node and not some random William tissue.

So, what if they are not cancerous? Then we continue having occasional PET scans until they lost interest and declare me cured.

What if they are cancerous? Oh, then it gets tricky, for we have to go to the second line of defense against lymphoma. First, they have to filter large amounts of my blood to secure a supply of stem cells (the precursors, if you will, of the various sorts of blood cells). Then I go into the hospital where I am subjected to a single treatment of very powerful chemotherapy drugs, drugs so powerful they kill the cancer, kill my bone marrow, kill my hair follicles, and have some chance of killing me in the process. Then they return my stem cells to me (an "autologous bone marrow transplant") where they find their various ways to my bone marrow and start to make various sorts of blood cells.

Meantime, I'm in the hospital for a week or ten days, being given blood transfusions and huge doses of antibiotics, because with no bone marrow, I have no immune system and am at risk of all sorts of opportunistic infections.

We don't want that. We want the biopsies to be negative. But damnit, I was hoping this would all be over today and I wouldn't have to worry about more biopsies and have to worry about cancer any more. Dad gummit.