Another Good Dr. Visit

Things are still looking good.

I had my monthly follow-up with Dr. R this afternoon. Nothing's really changed. These monthly visits consist of blood work, a physical exam, and my self-reporting of symptoms. Everything looks great.

My blood work is "perfect" and "rock solid" -- no changes from last month. No anemia, no high or low white cell counts. Some other tests that look at liver output will come back in a couple of days, but given the good blood counts, it's unlikely that I'll have any problems there.

No nodes are swollen (except the one near my hip bone that first "presented"), and no organs appear swollen (like the spleen, which can often be felt externally).

I'm not feeling any B symptoms (weight loss [I've actually gained a couple of pounds, thanks to those Dove Dark Chocolate Easter Eggs], chills, night sweats, etc.). My various aches and pains probably aren't related to the NHL, given where they are located.

He was pleased. I didn't really have any questions for him. "Yeah," he said, "it gets kind of boring aftera while." So I guess that means my slow-growing, low-grade lymphoma is doing what it's supposed to do, which is grow very slowly.

We scheduled another CT and PET scan for April 16, which would make it about 3 months from the last one. That's a little on the quick side, but he'd like to get a sense of how quickly things are progressing, if at all. He asked the radiologist to compare the scan with the January one, so we can see if anything has grown or shrunk. We'll aslo re-stage, if necessary. Then I'll see him again about a week later to discuss the results. He doesn't expect anything to have changed drastically since January. If things look good on the scans, we can make the now-monthly appointments every two months, or even three months, until something changes.

So overall, no news is good news. As much as it sucks to be in limbo this way, I'd rather wait around for a long time than be really sick.

Thanks for all your positive thoughts and prayers.