Hey party people,
Well, this was a week for a CT scan, then a results show appointment. The scan was yesterday, results this afternoon. What they found was enlarged lymph nodes in each armpit. This isn't necessarily a good sign. It's not necessarily a bad sign, but I'm going to have to go in for a needle biopsy later this week to determine what exactly is going on in there. He felt into my armpits to see if he could feel the nodes that showed up on the scan and he easily could. I easily could. One increased well over double, the other just under double.
Although there is a chance this is the disease spreading, it could be any number of other causes. For instance, as I have mentioned in the past, my tattoos have been acting up from this drug. It causes the tattooed areas to become inflamed (JUST the tattooed areas, it's strange) almost as though I were having an allergic reaction that is isolated to parts of my skin filled with tattoo ink. It so happens that the right node is larger then the left node, by a pretty good margin, and there is far more ink on that side. It could be those lymph nodes trying to fight off whatever is going on there.
The other factor in favor of this not being cancer is that there was no enlarging of any of the other tumors. They all stayed steady. If the cancer were to spread, the other spots would probably have grown as well.
All the same, they gave me an information packet on ipilimumab, my plan B drug, so I can look into it and know what to expect.
Dr. Thompson said that the average time this study medication I'm taking works is about 6 months in patients. I'm 13 months in. Really, I'm doing quite well.
Well, this was a week for a CT scan, then a results show appointment. The scan was yesterday, results this afternoon. What they found was enlarged lymph nodes in each armpit. This isn't necessarily a good sign. It's not necessarily a bad sign, but I'm going to have to go in for a needle biopsy later this week to determine what exactly is going on in there. He felt into my armpits to see if he could feel the nodes that showed up on the scan and he easily could. I easily could. One increased well over double, the other just under double.
Although there is a chance this is the disease spreading, it could be any number of other causes. For instance, as I have mentioned in the past, my tattoos have been acting up from this drug. It causes the tattooed areas to become inflamed (JUST the tattooed areas, it's strange) almost as though I were having an allergic reaction that is isolated to parts of my skin filled with tattoo ink. It so happens that the right node is larger then the left node, by a pretty good margin, and there is far more ink on that side. It could be those lymph nodes trying to fight off whatever is going on there.
The other factor in favor of this not being cancer is that there was no enlarging of any of the other tumors. They all stayed steady. If the cancer were to spread, the other spots would probably have grown as well.
All the same, they gave me an information packet on ipilimumab, my plan B drug, so I can look into it and know what to expect.
Dr. Thompson said that the average time this study medication I'm taking works is about 6 months in patients. I'm 13 months in. Really, I'm doing quite well.