Scan Results

Well, I guess the summary for this visit is: No surprises.

As I said earlier this week, I've been able to feel that the nodes near my left hipbone are a little larger. The PET scan confirmed that. There's one that measues about 3.2 centimeters -- about an inch. That's not quite double its previous size, but it's certainly larger, maybe 75% bigger. Again, though -- no surprises to me.

There's a little activity in one node under my arm, but that's been there for awhile, and wasn't changed much on this scan.

So things seem to be progressing a little more than they had been. Nothing that's hugely worrisome to Dr. R -- not worrisome enough to start treatment right away. He recommends we continue to watch and wait, which I'm fine with. I'll go back again in a month for blood work and a physical exam, and then we'll do another CT or PET scan a month after that, if it seems necessary. And we'll evaluate from there.

As far as the treatment plan goes, it's still the same plan. We'll try Rituxin on its own, and see how that works, and then decide from there if we need to try something else. He's conservative in that way, which I appreciate. I'm still not showing any B symptoms, so he's not planning to rush into anything too harsh if it isn't necessary.

I'd call it a good visit, overall. Keeping in mind that this cluster of nodes might very well shrink again on its own (such is the unpredictable nature of follicular NHL), I'll just continue to monitor how I feel.

Of course, I'll keep giving you updates.