I’M DONE!!!

This week was another rough week in comparison to weeks of the past. I am very fatigued all the time, my voice is slightly stronger than a whisper, and my neuropathy is difficult to deal with. But on the bright side, today was my last day of chemo, which means all of those things will be gone soon. Neuropathy is likely to last the longest, but it has improved slightly from when it was at its worst. It hurts to walk still, but at least I am sleeping a little better. Before there was enough sudden twinges of pain that it took me a long time to fall asleep. In the end I think fatigue just beat out the neuropathy and I would fall asleep. Today, my oncologist omitted the Vincristine from my treatment because he does not want the neuropathy to get any worse. He also gave me a prescription that should relieve some of the pain.

If my voice does not improve in the next few weeks my oncologist is going to refer me to an ear/nose/throat specialist to perform an indirect laryngoscopy, which is a minor and not too uncomfortable procedure during which he/she pulls at your tongue a little bit, and uses a small mirror to inspect your larynx and vocal cords.

What happens now? I am not so sure of that myself, as everything will depend on tests. I am getting another CBC test next week to determine if I need another transfusion after the last chemo treatment. After that I will have my port removed. Finally, I will have another PET scan. My doctor has already said that he cannot imagine a scenario in which I would have a positive PET scan since my last one was negative. If for some reason it does come back positive, most likely it would be a false positive and I would then get a biopsy. Only a positive biopsy would indicate that the chemo did not completely eliminate the cancer. This is also true down the road to signal a relapse.

But, I am very confident based on the information my oncologist has given me that the worst is behind me, and I will hopefully never have to deal with Lymphoma again.