Scans Tomorrow

I debated doing this, but here goes.

I'm having my 18 week scans tomorrow and, yes, I'm incredibly anxious.

I had gone to a kidney cancer support group meeting last night to hear a lawyer speak about the new healthcare law and I met two new fellow kidney cancer patients, and their personal stories added to my worry over how unpredictable and confounding this disease is. I'd convinced myself of two things with regards to this disease, and both of these people were examples of me being wrong.

The first thing I'd convinced myself of, was that it was very unlikely to spread to the brain as a first sign of metastasis. I knew that this was possible, but just really unlikely. While I still believe this to be true, the wonderful lady I met last night had had this exact scenario happen to her. She had a Stage 2 tumor 4 1/2 years ago and last year they found brain mets. Now she's battling stage 4 with multiple tumors in her liver and other places.

The second thing I thought I understood about this disease, was that if you respond to IL2, you were cured. I met a very nice lady last night who responded to IL2 back in the late 90's, and then about 4-5 years later had a recurrence to her lungs. She had surgery to resect those about 10 years ago and has been cancer free since then, so that's great news. One of the frustrations she was having was that her insurance company was now going to stop paying for her annual scans because they've decided after 10 years you don't need them. She doesn't agree.

I'm always glad to go to thase meetings to be in a room full of people that remind me that I'm not alone in this. And, despite the little bit of bickering that goes on here occasionally, I'm glad to come here and read your posts. It makes me feel the same way, that here's a place where people "get it".

So, I post yet another "scanxiety" post. It's one of many.

Best wishes to all of you and thanks for being here.

Todd