6 Month Scan and Visit

CT scans are much more favorable than PETS.  Much quicker and no waiting in a dark room alone for 1-2 hours.

I still wish you could tip the radiologist people administering the tests to give you a sneak peak on your results.  But they give you nothing.  I ask every time hoping that one of them will budge, but no! I get it though.  haha.
 
I took the CT on Monday and my Doctor appointment was Tuesday.

Brett came with me to the doctor appointment and it was all too familiar.  Check in, Wait, Labs, Wait again even longer, nurse brings you back-- weight check, blood pressure, temperature, and medication list check.  Then wait again.  (Booo--- Justine, my favorite assistant wasn't there.)

My doctor wasn't scheduled for this visit because he only sees me every other time (he's pretty important..:)..)  so the PA saw me today.  She came in and started asking questions and started the physical.  I finally had to interrupt her and ask how my CT results were.  She asked "Oh, when did you have a CT scan?"  For Reals.  I was a little ticked. She did bring up the results quickly, and you could tell she got a little funny and worried about something on the screen.  She had Brett and I look at it and we could see that there was something there where my tumor was that wasn't before.  She told me that she was going to see if my doctor was still there and run it by him.

While she was gone, I was trying not to lose it.  This was supposed to be my last scan.  This was supposed to be clear and something that I could check off my list and be done with!

A few minutes later she returned and told me that I shouldn't be too worried because it looked like it could be a phenomenon called "Thymic Rebound." If this was the case then it should calm down and clear itself out over time.   There's not a lot of information about it because it's normally seen in children and it's pretty rare.

Here is an article I found though--

This case illustrates a phenomenon called thymic rebound (also called benign thymic hyperplasia), which is defined as thymic regrowth 50% greater than baseline volume. Benign thymic hyperplasia occurs mainly after treatment with chemotherapy, but infrequent case reports describe its occurrence after periods of stress in cancer patients off chemotherapy as well. Chemotherapy causes thymic atrophy and a decrease in average volume of 33%, and regrowth occurs after treatment completion.

Benign thymic hyperplasia was initially described in children recovering from thermal burns, and later recognized as thymic rebound in children following chemotherapy. It has been associated with various types of pediatric cancers, including lymphomas, leukemias, testicular cancer, sarcomas and in the stem cell transplant setting.

The literature in adults is scarce, but it may occur in about 25% of adult chemotherapy patients. Benign thymic hyperplasia in adults has been documented in early stage breast cancer, lymphoma and uterine leiomyosarcoma. It usually occurs within the first year after chemotherapy, but it can present as many as five years later. In one case series, 31 of 134 PET scans (23.1%) for lymphoma showing focal flurodeoxyglucose uptake were diagnosed as nontumoral radiotracer uptake. Five of the 31 false-positive PET scans were related to thymic hyperplasia.

Benign thymic hyperplasia may result in diagnostic inaccuracies in PET scan interpretation with potential implications on patient management. However, an experienced interpreter of PET/CT scans can readily recognize its pattern on both PET and CT imaging, and temporally correlate it with a history of chemotherapy to avoid misinterpretation. If there remains a high suspicion of malignancy despite consideration of thymic rebound, tissue confirmation should be obtained to avoid the morbidity of unnecessary treatment.

She also explained that it can look very similar to relapsing, which is another option of what it could be.  Stats show that if I were to relapse, it would be right now.  Since I had a more "bulky" tumor, my chances increase for relapse as well.   These are all worries that I can't put to rest.  The only for sure way to know if it's thymic tissue vs. Hodgkin Lymphoma again is if they did a biopsy.   Biopsies around my heart are not quite simple.  Especially since we're only dealing with 2x3 centimeters now. 

My doctor never came in, but she assured me that I shouldn't worry, and that they knew my case and we would be watching this carefully.  He's pretty positive that it's the thymic tissue that is involved here, but if any other symptoms pop up-- I need to communicate that.  They scheduled another CT in three months and then if it grew larger than we could talk about doing a biopsy.  

I did ask about my heart pain and my shortness of breath when I get stressed out.  They said it could be a combination of things, but it could be related to this.  

All in all, I left this appointment feeling very confused and down.  It didn't go at all how I expected, but I think that's one lesson I'm still learning!  You can't control everything.  Some things you have to just take and roll with it.   

Well, by next post hopefully I'll have more positive vibes and intriguing thoughts.  Then again.... maybe I'll just stick to something funny.  

test results-- excuse the dinner on it. hahaha

One Whole year

From a Facebook post I wrote---

It's been a year.  ONE WHOLE YEAR since I found a grapefruit size mass in my chest. 

What a ride it's been. 

I remember how last year around this time I was so itchy-- I had bruises all over my legs from itching so hard, but everything else itched too.  I remember that when I laughed really hard I would wheeze.  When I ran really hard I would wheeze. I had a cough that would not quit, my chest would hurt, and my left arm had a aching pain that would surge through it.  I had excuses for everything. I had seen many doctors and I kept telling them that I didn't feel right.  They kept giving me reasons why and things to try. Nothing really worked.  I remember asking one doctor if it could be cancer--  My bloodwork looked fine, so nope, not cancer.

So glad that I was inspired to see Dr. Christensen and pushed by my friends to get some answers.

He saw that I was frustrated and embarrassed for going to the doctor so much.  He wanted to help.  So we started by doing every test he could think of for "pruritus" which is itching without a rash. For some reason a chest x-ray was on that list.  I thank God that we did that chest x-ray that day. 

Now here I am today....  cancer free. 

Yes, it could come back.  Yes, my risk for other cancers is higher now.  Yes, I will always worry. 

Yes, there's lots of side effects, and I'm still finding whats the new normal for me.  Most of the time I feel like my body aged 30 years, but I'm making small and steady strides towards where I once was.  I'm accepting the fact that I may not ever run as fast as I used to and that's OK.  I can work hard and try.  My body has gone through a lot and I'm so thankful for it toughing it out.

It's been amazing how much I have learned from this experience. 

For one- I'm not as afraid of needles as I once was!  Ha-ha. 

But really-- I learned how great people are.  In a world so full of craze and differentiating opinions, gossip and hate--- people come together and help each other out.   We all know what something sucky feels like and we really don't want people to have to go through it alone. 

I've also learned a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I always heard it wasn't just for sinners, but I never put into practice the suffering part of it.  Sometimes life just isn't unfair.  I didn't ask for cancer.  I didn't want it.  But I came closer to Heavenly Father and Christ because of it.  If I had a rough day, I knew that I could pray and be comforted just enough to make it through until the next time.

I know I said it a million times, but there was no way I could have done it without my friends, my husband Brett, family, neighbors, my ward (church group,) and my other HL homies.

Thank you for supporting me and my family and helping to lighten the load.  Now do me a favor and go help out someone!  Send a text to a friend you haven't heard from in a while,  buy an extra treat and drop it off at a neighbor's house, smile and say hi instead of hurry and pass by, help a struggling mother in the store instead of pretending you didn't see..go and Brighton someone's day.  #Brightonaday

We are on this earth together. We all have our own battle we're fighting.