Making progress

I met with my oncologist today. My CT scan last Thursday showed improvements:
* The mass on my left adrenal gland is gone
* The pericardial effusion (fluid around my heart) is gone
* The tumor has shrunk some more


The shrinkage was not as much as I had hoped for. The measurements also seem to be dependent on which radiologist looks at them.

Tumor size February 11, 2009 (measured by Dr. O):
* 7.2cm x 3.8cm on the axial projection (side to side & front to back)
* 5 cm coronal measurement (top to bottom)

Tumor size February 11, 2009 (measured by Dr. D):
* 8cm x 4cm on the axial projection
* No coronal measurement given

Tumor size March 26, 2009 (measured by Dr. D):
* 6.7cm x 3cm on the axial projection
* 5.3cm coronal measurement



So just 1cm shrinkage in each axial direction, and no change in the coronal plane. Not nearly as encouraging as my first progress scan.

The type of lymphoma I have often leaves a mass of scar tissue even when all the cancer cells are killed - but 7cm would be a highly unusual amount of scar tissue. I was hoping for enough shrinkage we could possibly say the cancer cells were dead, and I'd only need two more chemo cycles (six total).

But since the tumor is still good-sized, I'll need more treatment after my sixth cycle. We'll do another CT scan: if the tumor has shrunk more, we'll do two more cycles (eight total) and evaluate from there. If it's the same size, we'll talk about other treatment options, probably radiation.

As disappointing as it is to be looking at months more of treatment, I feel so lucky I have a variety of effective treatment options available to me. Just thirty or forty years ago, I would have been dead within a year of diagnosis. So, hooray for effective chemotherapy, and on to cycle five.