UPDATE: My battle with cancer continues, and things are looking pretty positive right now. Since my last update, I found out the tumor in my chest regrew, but that it spread to my rib and below one of my lungs. I went through 6 rounds of chemotherapy again, and instead of radiation the doctors decided to do a bone marrow transplant. The tumor shrank significantly after just one round of chemotherapy, and even further after 3 rounds. However, after the sixth and final round of chemo, three of the lesions in my chest had stopped responding to the treatment, and one had started to regrow. I entered the transplant quickly, and ended up spending 29 days in the hospital over Christmas and New Years. Since my discharge I am doing great and feel myself slowly getting better. A PET scan this past week showed that half of the lesions present after chemotherapy are no longer active, and the intensity of the remaining cancer activity has decreased in intensity from a range of 10-20, to no more than 6. I am not in remission yet, but a month after the transplant I am pretty damn close. Hopefully, I can be free of this disease soon and get back to living a normal life. The downside of this transplant is I can't drive myself around, and I have to take off work for probably at least two to three more months.
7/24/2008 - What can I say...Life's a Bitch. I went in for my 6 month follow up appointment today and found out the tumor in my chest is growing again. The plan appears to be 2 more rounds of chemo and then some high dosage radiation. I don't mind dealing with treatment. Take that back...I hate dealing with treatment, but I'm not worried because I know I can get through it. However, its a pain in the ass to deal with all of the other issues that arise when one is too sick to work, contribute around the house, and do pretty much anything else. For those who supported me before...I'll appreciate it again. For anybody else new to my situation...your prayers are welcome too. I pray everybody else here finds themselves in good health and a good state of mind.
PEACE!
1/31/2008 - Today I had a PET and CT scan that showed there are no signs of cancer in my body! I am celebratng with my family and loving every minute of it. While I certainly haven't had a fun experience with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, I am happy to be a stronger person, and consider myself blessed for my survival!
10/16/2007 - I was just diagnosed within the last month with Grey Zone Lymphoma, which is a cancer that shows signs of Hodgkins Disease and Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. I am being treated with a NHL regimen, so I am associating my cancer more with NHL. Since 5 = most treatable, and I have no plans of being a cancer victim...I obviously rate this a 5. Going through chemotherapy certainly isn't a fun experience, but the statistics show that Lymphoma patients have amazing rates of remission. After just one cycle of chemo therapy, my hair has started to fall out but my pre-diagnostic symptoms have gone away. I'm certain I will beat this cancer.