#5 is through!!

Now I have 3 more treatments left. My pet scan on Wednesday was long but well worth it. I reviewed it with Dr. Kanard yesterday before my treatment. I will post pictures of the last pet scan verses this one. She said that there are now no sign of the tumor!! But only a certain size will show up on the scan; so there could still be small cancer cells around so that is another reason it is best to do as many treatments as possible. She also said that I will be doing the Retuxan every 6 months and not every 3 and there are 4 of those treatments that are 3 hours each. So in two years I will be done with that. I also asked her "what if it comes back?" If it comes back within 2 years we will have to have a bone marrow transplant; if after we will do R-CHOP again. So now I really need your prayers to make sure it doesn't come back.

Thank you all again for all of your love and support! I love all of you!!

The reason for 8

So I talked to an oncology nurse yesterday that my insurance had set up for me. I asked her why I have to do 8 treatments now. She said that it was because I was doing so well with the treatments. She said 6 is good but 8 is better and the doctor will always try for 8 if you are tolorating everything well enough. Derek was saying that it's like having to have 6 spankings and since your not crying yet you get 2 more.

One way of learning patience

I talked to the doctor before the Chemo on Thursday. I actually remembered to ask her about what will happen after the tumor is gone. She is planning on having another Petscan the week of the 17th which is right before the next chemo. She expects the tumor will be a lot smaller if not completely gone; still Dr. Kanard said that I will most likely have 4 more Chemo treatments instead of the two I was expecting, yuck; so, all in all I will go through 8 treatments instead of 6. I will see her every 3 months and have a pet scan every 6 months. Every 3 months I will have a treatment of Rutuxion which is the R in the RCHOP. The Rutuxion won’t hinder my hair to grow back, or have that bad of side effects, but it is the 3 hour drug! She said they do that because the Rutuxion and the extra treatments will help make sure that the cancer doesn’t come back. I don’t know how long I will have to have the Rutuxion, but hey it can’t be forever, I hope.
I didn't pray for patience, but it looks like I need to learn it. It seems a lot harder to keep enduring knowing that there are more treatments that I have to go through. I did find that there is a clinical trial that is like a immunization shot for kids. It would help my immune system fight the cancer if it ever came back. I think I am going to try to learn more about it.