Some good news

You all have been so very helpful to me. I can't thank you enough. I'm listening to the wonderful advice you give, and the support and encouragement get me through.

So...I wanted to share some good news for a change. First of all, my HIV doc called to check on me today. He told me about a CT scan I had last year compared to the CT scan I had after being diagnosed with anal cancer. He said there were no differences in the lymph nodes.

That means that my cancer is likely stage one. My doc at Duke did not have access to this previous scan. At any rate, I'm being treated aggressively as if the lymph nodes are involved, but there's a very good chance there is no lymph node involvement.

I also learned that my radiation oncologist is one of the leading experts on IMRT...my HIV doc checked him out told me that I was seeing one of the best in the world.

Further, I'm in my second week...no nausea at all, and only a couple of mouth sores. The mouth sores have not been bad at all though.

Lastly, both my radiation oncologist and chemo nurse were very optimistic when I met with them this week.

Dear friends...I just needed to finally share some good news with you. You have given me so much strength over the past couple of weeks, and my fighting spirit has returned. Please know I'm grateful to all of you.