3 treatments down...3 to go?

Mom had her third Chemo treatment today.  She had a pet scan last week to see what progress the Chemo is making.  Dr. C said that the lymph nodes that showed up in her abdomen on her last scan are still there but he thinks that they are sarcoid, not lymphoma.  If it was lymphoma it would be shrinking.  So...since it did show up in her bone marrow she has to have a minimum of 6 treatments but 6 may be all she has to have.  After her 4th chemo treatment (April 9th) he will order another scan to confirm the diagnosis of sarcoid.

Sarcoid is defined as..
Also called sarcoidosis, it is a disorder characterized by the formation of small inflammatory nodules (granulomas). The nodules can occur just about anywhere in the body but the lungs (lung sarcoidosis),skin (skin sarcoidosis) and lymph nodes are usually the most common locations. (rightdiagnosis.com) 
Since Mom already knew she had some sarcoidosis in her lung we expected to see that on the scan.  The pet scan only shows inflammation (which could be lymphoma or sarcoid) and the only way to determine what is what is to do a biopsy.  It is too dangerous to do a lung biopsy or to reach the lymph nodes in her upper abdomen that are showing inflamed.  But the truth is it really does not matter.  We are doing 6 treatments no matter what and Dr. C is more than confident that we are treating the lymphoma that he knew was there.  He said that he will determine if she needs radiation after he sees the next scan.  (when she heard she might be done in 6 she was relieved because she wouldn't be sick for Erda Days...yes she really cares about that little town)

So the good news is the treatments could be 1/2 way over...that is a huge milestone! Mom did ok with the second chemo treatment, she got a migraine again and had some more dizziness but the dr thinks that could be from the prednisone...and from her blood sugar fluctuating.  She doesn't really have an appetite most days after chemo and it is hard to force feed yourself.  She is working on this though and has protein shakes to supplement her meals.

All in all things are going really well.  She has her bad days but her good days far out weigh the bad ones.  If you didn't know she was sick you wouldn't be able to tell.  She wears a wig most of the time and it looks great on her.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers and support.  There are so many people that care about our Mom and we love and appreciate each one of you!