This week in the life of exiledNms

[exiledNms]

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(coming to you live from SE Houston...)

Monday, 8/18 is the big day of tests. (various CTs, plus a P.E.T., plus bloodwork & xrays) The purpose of these is "re-staging," to see where my cancer is.

Tuesday, 8/18 is the huge Dr. appt. Based on Monday's tests, he'll tell me whether the abuse...I mean, immunotherapy is working. *rimshot*

3 possible answers:
--It has worked - no cancer to be found. (Displaced Bama Fan will hear & wonder what all the shouting is about...)
--It is working - cancer still there, but shrinking
This would mean another couple of rounds of IL-2. Yippee or whatever...(seriously, this would be pretty good news too, but I'm not thrilled about more IL-2...)
--It is not working - cancer has grown or spread
This would mean time for plan B (whatever that might be). No more IL-2.

Obviously, the 1st answer is preferred, and the 2nd would be...*sighs*...not bad either. 3rd answer would be a bummer.

Prayers welcome, needed, and appreciated, amigos! If anyone's wondering, mrs. exiled & I are fine, all things considered. Relatively normal states of mind. (supply your own punch line here...) But I do have my moments of pure human wondering/worrying. Not so much about me, but about the missus & the kidlings (age 20 & 17).

Thanks for your thoughts & prayers! Roll Tide!
exiled

p.s. - mods, feel free to merge w/ other "exiled cancer" threads as needed.

[The Duke]

Continued prayers for you and your family buddy. You know, no matter which of the three possible answers you receive, you just keep on living your life to the fullest. You do this, and nothing will ever get the best of you and your family.

[dennychimes76]

We continue to pray for you exiled. May God's hands wrap you in his comfort.

[LCN]

Best of wishes to you & I'm glad that you're able to keep your spirits up . I'll be pulling for you just as hard as I do our beloved Crimson Tide ! Good luck .

[SavannahDare]

(((((hugs)))))

Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and send up some prayers to the Big Guy Upstairs.

Please let us know how today goes, no matter the outcome - good, bad or ugly.

[tholloway]

I am praying for you and your family.

[exiledNms]

Pretty good news, all things considered, but not one of my three categories mentioned earlier.

1 spot remains in my rt. lung (everybody now: "out, d@mned spot!" )
The good news there is, that's the only place that lights up on any of the scans. Plus, we already knew about that one. Plus--huge news here--it's completely unchanged from 2 months ago. No growth, no spread.

Been referred back to thoracic surgeon here @ MDA who removed 2 spots (from other lung) in June
Got an appt. w/ him Thursday, 8/21, at 7:30 a.m. to discuss whether he'll go get this last spot.

Assuming he sez yes, we're done after surgery!! (well, except for getting scans regularly.) I'd be able to describe myself this way, for the first time in 2008: *whispers* cancer-free...They'll harvest the lymphocytes from this tumor and grow t-cells in the lab here. Should melanoma show back up, they'll give me those t-cells along w/ IL-2. No chemo or radiation. (w00t!)

So, not finished here yet, but given the very high likelihood of really bad news that's common w/ melanoma, we're all pretty excited about this particular news.

Thanks so much for your prayers! Please keep 'em coming, particularly for Thursday's appt w/ the surgeon.

Is it football season yet? Lord knows I'm ready to be posting only about that!

Roll Tide!
exiled

p.s. - didn't the dinosaurs disappear in the thoracic age?

[tholloway]

You got it exiled!

[dennychimes76]

	Quote:	exiledNms
	Pretty good news, all things considered, but not one of my three categories mentioned earlier. (snipped) Roll Tide! exiled

Excellent exiled! Thanks for taking the time to update us - Our prayers continue for a complete whisper cancer-free football season and beyond!.

[SavannahDare]

I'm SO happy for you!! Hopefully, the thoracic surgeon will be able to get to that spot and cast it out into the petri dish where it belongs. Let the pathologist have it; you don't need it!!

You remain in my prayers. Please keep us posted.

[Bama in VA]

I am so glad to hear the good news and am continuing to pray for you.

~Bama in VA

[BamaMom/2]

Going through the same thing exiled. I had my CT and PET last monday. Will know results Monday 25th. Whatever your results are, just keep thinking that you are going to defeat it. I don't know what kind of cancer you are facing (mine is renal cancer which there is no cure yet) but I know that with my friends, faith and hope, I can get through it. I know you can too. They told me I would not live 12 months. So far the cancer has not grown or spread since the surgery in March. You are in my prayers. Email personally if you want to talk.

[dennychimes76]

	Quote:	BamaMom/2
	Going through the same thing exiled. I had my CT and PET last monday. Will know results Monday 25th. Whatever your results are, just keep thinking that you are going to defeat it. I don't know what kind of cancer you are facing (mine is renal cancer which there is no cure yet) but I know that with my friends, faith and hope, I can get through it. I know you can too. They told me I would not live 12 months. So far the cancer has not grown or spread since the surgery in March. You are in my prayers. Email personally if you want to talk.

Prayers for you also BamaMom/2. Hope you got good news yesterday.