It's All Clear! It's All Clear!

I got my PET scan results today and...it's all clear! There is no sign of the tumor anymore in my abdominal area (see lower pic)! I must say it was a huge sigh of relief. My oncologist showed me the before and after pictures and the black mass that was around my abdominal area is completely all gone in the latest pic. The only black that showed up was in the kidney but that was completely normal as that was my urine.

My oncologist also showed me something else that the radiologist and him found "interesting". It appears that there is some "activity" in my right kidney-- the kidney that they originally had stated was no longer functioning because of the tumor blockage. Where there used to be a black mass (because it was completely "dead"), it was all clear again and a minute trace of "activity" or urine passing through (see top pic). So, there is still hope that I may regain a bit of function back in my right kidney!! This unexpected bit of good news was like the cherry on top to the already great news that my tumor was gone after only four chemo sessions!

He said that because my scan came back all clean, there was no need to scan me anymore after my treatment is over. This is because he'd rather not put undue stress on my body by doing any unnecessary scans (he stated that one PET scan is like getting 100 x-rays). I asked  him what about follow up scans 6 months from now or a year from now. He said he recommends against it because for the same reason that it exposes the body to radiation and in some cases (5% of patients) can cause second cancers. We will just do the normal regular 3-6 month check ups and draw blood to see if anything is unusual.

The only thing left to do now is to get a bone marrow biopsy to see if the cancer is also gone from my bone marrow but he said we won't do that until after my treatment is over, so most likely before Christmas (my last treatment is December 4). But he said that he also expects the chemo treatment to be effective on the bone marrow as well and he expects that it will be negative. But of course, being the doctor that he is, he did hedge it that we are only taking a small section of bone marrow (my pelvis) and while it could show to be negative, there could be traces of it in other parts of bone marrow. This is probably the only part I don't like about him- he states just the facts too much and doesn't want to give me too much encouraging news! My wife was there for the appointment and she saw first hand how emotionless he was as he was going over the results! Haha. Nevertheless, it was a GREAT day today. What I worked so hard for the past few months, going through treatment and staying positive has all paid off. My tumor is gone and if not for my bone marrow, he would have declared me in complete remission!! This was the best case scenario possible and the fact that I may have some function back on my right kidney was an added bonus to this awesome early Christmas present!

Now, it's just two more sessions to go and I'll be all done! It'll be time to celebrate very soon and I'll be able to even drink to that after my treatment is over. Good thing we just built a custom wine cooler and cabinet at home. Time to stock up on that red wine... hehe.



Before pic on the left and Friday's scan on the right. The black
tube is my nephrostomy bag. The black on the right is my kidney
but that's normal. The mass that was on the left is all gone.