It's Official!

It's official! I got the results of my pet scan that I did this past Tuesday and on the following day--  Wednesday, January 27, 2016-- my oncologist declared me in "complete remission"!! Considering that I celebrated my birthday only the day before, it was the best birthday present anyone could have received! I mean....considering that when I was first diagnosed, I had no clue of what this cancer was all about and it had crossed my mind that I might not live to see another birthday. Now I am shooting to celebrate many, many, many more! It feels AMAZING to be cancer-free and be rid of this illness. When I was first diagnosed and had accepted the fact that I had cancer, I had only one goal in mind and that was to get to the day I would be declared in remission. Now, with receiving the news officially, I feel as if I can finally go back to living a "normal" life. I know everything will never be the same though. There is no cure (at the moment) for follicular lymphoma, so at some point, it will come back and I'll have to battle it again. I am just hoping that it won't be till 10 or 15 or even 20 years from now. There is no predicting when it will be back but I can't dwell on that and live in fear of it coming back. I have my life back now and will make the most of what I've been given...a second chance to "enjoy every day and live life to the fullest". This is the quote that I am constantly reminded by. It was said by a support group member's sister who had to share the news with us that her younger sister- the newest of our support group- had passed away after fighting colon cancer for 7 months. She was only 26 years old. I only met her once at a meeting yet her presence filled the room; she was so vibrant and full of energy...and it was a shock that only 6 weeks later, she lost her battle. It's a constant reminder to me that this is the reality of cancer unfortunately. It's a deadly disease that has claimed countless lives. Just in the month of January alone, in the news we've heard many celebrities passing away due to cancer related deaths. It just makes me feel all the more fortunate that I went through my treatment with flying colors and was able to beat my cancer. I will never forget the journey that I had to go through.

Following my news that I was in complete remission, we had the awards ceremony for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night Walk. It was this past Thursday and I attended the event with Aylang and a few other participants from team #fLOUrish (Jane, Chuck and Rick). Each of us received a certificate for raising more than $1,000 each for Light the Night (although they lost two of the certificates) and our team got a plaque for raising more than $5,000 (we ended raising just over $12,000 which was good for top 3 team out of 200+ teams). What was a really nice suprise though was that I received the 2015 Inspiration Award for my cancer journey and the reasons why I chose to participate in the Walk. It was such a great honor to receive such a distinguished award considering that there were over 200 teams participating in the Walk and each team had their own unique story why they were participating in the event yet my story was the one they chose to share. It was a great feeling to accept the award. It was a fitting end to what had turned out to be such a great week...celebrating turning 41, getting news of being in full remission and then receiving the awards.

Though this part of the journey is now over, I know that I am about to embark on a new journey-- a journey that I can fill with many happy memories; a journey without cancer.What hasn't killed me has made me a lot stronger. With the knowledge and perspective that I have, the determination to succeed, and the support of my friends, I know that I can overcome any challenges that come my way in this wonderful journey we call life.



Team #fLOUrish receiving the Team Award for raising $12K+

Second Time Around Is Not So Bad

Happy New Year. It's been awhile since I last updated by blog. Since returning to work, I've just been busy with keeping up with work-related things. It was good timing returning in December as things were a bit slow which allowed me to get into the groove of things. I was able to have a good New Year's and finally got to taste my first glass of wine since treattment! I have had a few more glasses since then and even did a trip up to Napa to buy some wine and to celebrate a friend's big 4-0 birthday.

Last Thursday, I got my bone marrow biopsy to check to see if the lymphoma was also gone from my bone marrow. The first time I had this done, it was one of the most painful things I've ever endured and I was sore the rest of the day. I don't think my oncologist gave me enough dosage (plus it didn't help that he had to do it twice because he wasn't able to grab any bone marrow the first go around) so this time around, I asked for at least double the dosage of lydocaine to numb the pain. I had a different doctor this time as my regular oncologist wasn't available. I told the doc about my last experience and told her that I wanted double or triple the dosage this time. She said that they did have extra lydocaine so that wouldn't be a problem. She then injected me twice in my pelvic area with ethe pain medication and proceeded to perform the biopsy. I must admit it wasn't bad at all the second time around. Perhaps it was because she gave me twice the normal dosage or maybe it was because she told me step-by-step what she was about to do and what kind of feeling (pain) I would be expecting. That, and the fact that she didn't have to go in twice (she was able to grab bone marrow successfully on her first try) really made the procedure not bad at all. Mind you, it was still painful but knowing what to expect (unlike my first time) at least helped me anticipate the pain. And again, maybe it was the double dosage that helped. However.....as with most of my doctor's visits, there's always something that comes up. It turned out that after she was done with the procedure, she told me that she gave me the regular dosage!! WTF?! I then asked her "but didn't you say that wouldn't be a problem as you had extra?" She replied that she did state that she had extra..and she would use it only if it was needed. Uh...that was a slight omision on her end! Who does that?! But I guess the placebo effect worked because again, it wasn't as painful this time around and my recovery time was quite fast because unlike being unable to move the rest of the day when I first had it done, I was able to walk and move around with fair ease a few hours after the procedure. Hopefully though, it'll be the last of that that I have to do for a very, very long time.

So, I am supposed to get my results on Thursday when I go to see my oncologist. However, yesterday, a nurse from nuclear medicine called me to schedule a PET scan. I was confused as my oncologist told me that I wouldn't need to get a PET scan anymore as my tumor was gone and I would only get scanned if something turned out. Of course, immediately I freaked out and thought that something must have come up in bone marrow biopsy result. I emailed my oncologist immediately after the phone call and asked him if it had to do with my bone marrow biopsy. This all happened in the morning time and so the whole day, while waiting for his reply, I was really worried. All these questions rushed through my head: What did he find in the bone marrow biopsy? What happens if the lymphoma is back? Could it be a mistake? It's most likely a mistake?

Finally, at about 530pm, I get a response back from my oncologist. He said that there was nothing to worry. The bone marrow biopsy showed no disease and the reason for the PET scan request was that he noticed that there was some minor inflammatory signal with my last scan that I did after my 4th chemo session which he contributed to chemotherapy but he just wanted to be 100% sure. I let out a huge sigh of relief after I read his email! It was really good to know my bone marrow biopsy was all good and that my next scan would be somewhat routine (most chemo patients get scanned after treatment anyways). I don't have a problem doing a scan if it's just to confirm again that my cancer is gone!

I'm scheduled for the PET scan next Tuesday, January 26-- my birthday. Guess there could be worse things to do on my birthday! Results to be shared in my next blog posting....