My CT results!

merrywinner

Well I spent the day at Rochester and after much anxiety and worry am happy to say that my CT was completely clear thereby sustaining my remission. MD said there was absolutely nothing. I was so very relieved as I am sure all of you can understand. I was in one sort of treatment or another for a year and 10 months and have been in remission since last November. This was my first check to see if that remission is holding and it did! I don't need to return for four months at which time they will do another CT to check again. He said they need to check more frequently during the first year. Also my blood work has all returned to normal which he said was excellent as they generally expect that to take a year. I have been very lucky and blessed. I wanted to share this with all of you to let you know that there is hope, there are things that can be done, there are answers. I will take it one CT or PET scan at a time. I did ask the dreaded "what if" question and was told there are tons of options left if that should occur. I know so many of you are in "phase 1" of this journey which is achieving remission and for that I wish you all well. It can be done one way or another. I and others are in "phase 2" which is battling to keep that remission. I know there is a "phase 3" for some which is repeating "phase 1" but there are new things coming all the time and I wish you all well. Thanks as always for your support and God Bless. Mary

vinny59

ct results
Oh thats so wonderful Mary, I will be praying for you, I had my P.E.T. Scan yesterday, I'm hoping for the best, bracing for the worse! Take care Vinny

merrywinner

vinny59 said:

ct results
Oh thats so wonderful Mary, I will be praying for you, I had my P.E.T. Scan yesterday, I'm hoping for the best, bracing for the worse! Take care Vinny

Good morning Vinny
Oh thank you so much. I so know that feeling of hoping and praying for the best while at the same time needing to keep myself prepared for the worst. My family, God bless them all, don't always understand this. They say the usual things like think positive etc and of course I do but I'll be damned if I will be caught off guard. I think mentally we have to investigate our worst case scenarios to be able to cope with them if we have to. I will pray like crazy for good results for you. So hard to wait for those results. I had to wait only 4 hours yesterday but it felt like a year. Of course I only had the 4 hours to mentally prepare too because once I got up from the CT table it was a brand new game....like OK you have my pictures signed, sealed and delivered and there's nothing I can do but hope! It is tough but so are you and I know you get it...the mental gymnastics that are so very hard to describe and so exhausting. It's such a huge part of this disease and can probably only be understood by those that have done it. I hope and pray that none of my family or yours ever has to understand it. Mary

dixiegirl

merrywinner said:

Good morning Vinny
Oh thank you so much. I so know that feeling of hoping and praying for the best while at the same time needing to keep myself prepared for the worst. My family, God bless them all, don't always understand this. They say the usual things like think positive etc and of course I do but I'll be damned if I will be caught off guard. I think mentally we have to investigate our worst case scenarios to be able to cope with them if we have to. I will pray like crazy for good results for you. So hard to wait for those results. I had to wait only 4 hours yesterday but it felt like a year. Of course I only had the 4 hours to mentally prepare too because once I got up from the CT table it was a brand new game....like OK you have my pictures signed, sealed and delivered and there's nothing I can do but hope! It is tough but so are you and I know you get it...the mental gymnastics that are so very hard to describe and so exhausting. It's such a huge part of this disease and can probably only be understood by those that have done it. I hope and pray that none of my family or yours ever has to understand it. Mary

So happy
I am so glad you got great news! Congratulations................WOO HOO!!!!

vinny59

merrywinner said:

Good morning Vinny
Oh thank you so much. I so know that feeling of hoping and praying for the best while at the same time needing to keep myself prepared for the worst. My family, God bless them all, don't always understand this. They say the usual things like think positive etc and of course I do but I'll be damned if I will be caught off guard. I think mentally we have to investigate our worst case scenarios to be able to cope with them if we have to. I will pray like crazy for good results for you. So hard to wait for those results. I had to wait only 4 hours yesterday but it felt like a year. Of course I only had the 4 hours to mentally prepare too because once I got up from the CT table it was a brand new game....like OK you have my pictures signed, sealed and delivered and there's nothing I can do but hope! It is tough but so are you and I know you get it...the mental gymnastics that are so very hard to describe and so exhausting. It's such a huge part of this disease and can probably only be understood by those that have done it. I hope and pray that none of my family or yours ever has to understand it. Mary

thanks
So well put,I wil be ready either way!

britta

My CT Scan Results
Mary,

Been praying for you and am so happy for your good news. Wow, that is wonderful re your bloodwork all being back to normal already. You are one healthy specimen now girl. How good that must feel after such a long road of different treatments. I will be going to Rochester Monday, August 30 for my first bloodwork - almost five weeks. Don't know what to expect, at first I had so many side effects, I was worried, but now am just tired. Am anxious to see where I stand right now.

Stay healthy and thanks for all your support to all of us.

Britta

forme

GREAT !!
Hi Mary,
Great news! Keep that remission going. You will find that as time goes by, so does the length of time between checks. Congrats to you..
Lisha

merrywinner

dixiegirl said:

So happy
I am so glad you got great news! Congratulations................WOO HOO!!!!

WOO HOO is right!
Thank you so much. I have a 4 month pass, I'll take it.

merrywinner

vinny59 said:

thanks
So well put,I wil be ready either way!

only option
That's all you can do and it will be enough.

merrywinner

britta said:

My CT Scan Results
Mary,

Been praying for you and am so happy for your good news. Wow, that is wonderful re your bloodwork all being back to normal already. You are one healthy specimen now girl. How good that must feel after such a long road of different treatments. I will be going to Rochester Monday, August 30 for my first bloodwork - almost five weeks. Don't know what to expect, at first I had so many side effects, I was worried, but now am just tired. Am anxious to see where I stand right now.

Stay healthy and thanks for all your support to all of us.

Britta

Thank you so much!
And I will be praying for you too. It will be so good to see where you are at. I was tired for a long time. I started to notice improvement at the 6 to 8 week mark, a little at a time. I asked him if after having Zevalin, were my future options limited? He said not at all and in some cases could be used again. He mentioned,just in chatting, another drug that is showing lots of promise to use in place of Rituxan. It is called Bendamustine(sp?). I believe it has been around awhile being used for other things and they now know that it works just as well for some types of Lymphoma but has far less side effects long term and is better tolerated. So as far as the future for us all there is always going to be something. But for now I will wait here happily in the present. He also said he now has Zevalin patients hitting their 10 year mark. As I sit here happily in the present I want to be one of those in the future!! God Bless. Mary

merrywinner

forme said:

GREAT !!
Hi Mary,
Great news! Keep that remission going. You will find that as time goes by, so does the length of time between checks. Congrats to you..
Lisha

Thank you!
And I sure hope so. You hang in there too and God bless. Mary

allmost60

forme said:

GREAT !!
Hi Mary,
Great news! Keep that remission going. You will find that as time goes by, so does the length of time between checks. Congrats to you..
Lisha

YES!YES!YES!
You made my day Mary! Makes me feel strong for battle next week after hearing you are still in remission! I'm sooooo very happy for you. Hope you will celebrate this wonderful news!
Love...Sue

merrywinner

allmost60 said:

YES!YES!YES!
You made my day Mary! Makes me feel strong for battle next week after hearing you are still in remission! I'm sooooo very happy for you. Hope you will celebrate this wonderful news!
Love...Sue

Thank you Sue
It means so much to hear from everyone. After spending two years enmeshed in this battle I sincerely want everyone to know that it can be done and there is freedom, at least for short periods of time, in the beginning. As I said somewhere else, I have a four month pass and I will take it. I will be praying like crazy for you too. Good luck in the upcoming week. Oh, to get started and have some of it behind you, it will be a good feeling. God bless, Mary

truckingalong

merrywinner said:

Thank you Sue
It means so much to hear from everyone. After spending two years enmeshed in this battle I sincerely want everyone to know that it can be done and there is freedom, at least for short periods of time, in the beginning. As I said somewhere else, I have a four month pass and I will take it. I will be praying like crazy for you too. Good luck in the upcoming week. Oh, to get started and have some of it behind you, it will be a good feeling. God bless, Mary

Good news
Mary, I am so happy to hear of the good news - this brings me a lot more hope for myself!!

Liz

dixiegirl

merrywinner said:

Thank you so much!
And I will be praying for you too. It will be so good to see where you are at. I was tired for a long time. I started to notice improvement at the 6 to 8 week mark, a little at a time. I asked him if after having Zevalin, were my future options limited? He said not at all and in some cases could be used again. He mentioned,just in chatting, another drug that is showing lots of promise to use in place of Rituxan. It is called Bendamustine(sp?). I believe it has been around awhile being used for other things and they now know that it works just as well for some types of Lymphoma but has far less side effects long term and is better tolerated. So as far as the future for us all there is always going to be something. But for now I will wait here happily in the present. He also said he now has Zevalin patients hitting their 10 year mark. As I sit here happily in the present I want to be one of those in the future!! God Bless. Mary

Great to know
I am glad you asked. Makes me feel much better. God I hope someday to make the 10 year point! Sounds awesome.

merrywinner

truckingalong said:

Good news
Mary, I am so happy to hear of the good news - this brings me a lot more hope for myself!!

Liz

Good
Thank you and I wish you all the best. If we can all add a little hope to the mix there just may be enough to go around. Mary

merrywinner

dixiegirl said:

Great to know
I am glad you asked. Makes me feel much better. God I hope someday to make the 10 year point! Sounds awesome.

10 years
I know right? We all deserve it. Take care.

britta

merrywinner said:

Thank you so much!
And I will be praying for you too. It will be so good to see where you are at. I was tired for a long time. I started to notice improvement at the 6 to 8 week mark, a little at a time. I asked him if after having Zevalin, were my future options limited? He said not at all and in some cases could be used again. He mentioned,just in chatting, another drug that is showing lots of promise to use in place of Rituxan. It is called Bendamustine(sp?). I believe it has been around awhile being used for other things and they now know that it works just as well for some types of Lymphoma but has far less side effects long term and is better tolerated. So as far as the future for us all there is always going to be something. But for now I will wait here happily in the present. He also said he now has Zevalin patients hitting their 10 year mark. As I sit here happily in the present I want to be one of those in the future!! God Bless. Mary

I'm so elated for you!! WOW,
I'm so elated for you!! WOW, ten years, that is so awesome. Hope I recover as fast as you did. I kind of worried about waiting so long for a blood count, but I guess they're pretty good at estimating when it will go down. Yours didn't stay down long, did it? Wasn't it just a week or two? I pray for you and everyone that we will all have a cure someday.

merrywinner

britta said:

I'm so elated for you!! WOW,
I'm so elated for you!! WOW, ten years, that is so awesome. Hope I recover as fast as you did. I kind of worried about waiting so long for a blood count, but I guess they're pretty good at estimating when it will go down. Yours didn't stay down long, did it? Wasn't it just a week or two? I pray for you and everyone that we will all have a cure someday.

Tahnks again
Your memory is excellent. My blood work started sliding out of range about week 2 or 3 and peaked during week 4. By the time I had my first followup at the 6 week mark they were normal. I am fortunate in that I can tell when my counts are low or struggling to recover because my legs ache really bad when I walk or exert any energy. For awhile I thought I would have that forever but suddenly one day just gone and hasn't returned. All the way through Chemo and the Zevalin I had this so it became my gauge. Good luck tomorrow and please let me know how it turns out. Mary

yesyes2

merrywinner said:

Good
Thank you and I wish you all the best. If we can all add a little hope to the mix there just may be enough to go around. Mary

Good News
Mary,
I'm so very happy, glad, and estatic that all went well for you on Friday. Remission is such a wonderful word, and continued remission is even better. I know how stressful these tests and doctors appts are, so with the great news you must have been soaring with happiness this weekend.
To continuing good news for all of us.
Leslie

GalacDad

yesyes2 said:

Good News
Mary,
I'm so very happy, glad, and estatic that all went well for you on Friday. Remission is such a wonderful word, and continued remission is even better. I know how stressful these tests and doctors appts are, so with the great news you must have been soaring with happiness this weekend.
To continuing good news for all of us.
Leslie

Good News
Mary,
So glad to hear your Good News! Everyday brings something new. Hope that you and your family celebrate the news in style.
Dave