I had my four-month check-up with the oncologist yesterday. Things continue to look good.
As always, the appointment with Dr. R involved some blood work, a physical exam, and my own reporting of how I'm feeling.
The blood work was "perfect," as Dr. R said. It was all pretty much in line with my last few.
The physical exam was fine, too. No new nodes popping up, and nothing swollen that shouldn't be.
And my own report? Other than my physical therapist beating the crap out of me three days a week, everything seems fine.
All in all, a nice, boring visit.
The only bad part of it all was that everyone was in a sassy mood, and the whole staff messed with me. Even Dr. R stuck his head into the room while I was getting blood taken, to make fun of the Red Sox. I reminded them that they were picking on a cancer patient, but they didn't care. So mean. At least the phlebotomist, who I had not seen before, was excellent. Talk about smooth -- I didn't even know she had put the needle on. I complimented her work, which she seemed to appreciate.
One final exciting bit of news: I'll be getting a CT scan next month.
I haven't had a scan since August 2011, which was about 18 months after I had my Rituxan treatment. Things looked pretty good then, and Dr. R hasn't seen much need to get one since. But now we're coming up on three years, and he thinks it's probably time to take a look inside. I'll see him again in September, and he said there's really no rush on the scan -- any time between now and September would be fine. I'm going for it near the end of June. Most convenient, and I think I'd like to just get it over with.
It's interesting to look back and think about how much I valued scans early on. When I was first diagnosed, I thought I'd be getting them every month, and I was pretty disappointed when that wasn't the case. Now when he says "Let's hold off a while longer," I'm pretty OK with that. Time helps to ease anxiety. You get used to carrying this thing around with you. It also helps that I've been without symptoms for so long.
So I'm feeling that post-oncologist appointment sense of peace right now.
I wish you all that same peaceful, easy feeling.
Very good news, Bob!! I can surely identify with your feelings, though it hasn't been that long since my diagnosis.
ReplyDeletegreat to hear such good news! congrats on your clean bill of health :)
ReplyDeleteJeanne
Hi Bob, great news!
ReplyDeleteI find the variation in frequency of oncologist visits for follicular lymphoma patients like us on watch and wait interesting, as I am now on annual visits having just started my fourth year on W&W and have had no treatments so far. My next scan will be October 2015 which will be the only the second one since diagnosis.
I was diagnosed with stage 1, Grade 1 Primary duodenal follicular lymphoma and my oncologist takes the view of less is best whilst I am asymptomatic, as apparently it is rare for a check up in itself to discover anything new that a patient will not have noticed first.