With the treatments coming to an end the 'So what now?' question is one that is on my mind as well as many others too such as family and friends and people read this i'm sure.
The current medical opinion is that the lymphoma has gone and been successfully treated.
I recently got to see all my medical notes recently and read a letter from my consultant to the radiotherapist very early on. In his words following the first treatment i had shown 'a full respnose'. Since about September then i've felt 'on the road to recovery'.
Now the treatments are complete i can start getting back to work and getting a normal routine going.
Having said that for the first year at least - possibly 2 years - i will be having full PET/CT scans every 3 months. The first one will be around 3 months from now - so mid May. This is to look for any possible signs of relapse.
Is relapse common? If it does occur is the treatment the same?
These are some of the questions ive been researching over the months. Given my age and the staging of the lymphoma its all in my favour and 95% of people in that group are fully cured with no return of the disease 5 years on - so signs are good - but having said that people do relapse. It can happen and it does happen.
As i've only had 4 cycles of ABVD if a relapse does occur i can have some more of these. The maximum number they give is about 8 - as after 8 cycles of ABVD you reach the maximum allowed lifetime dose of some medication! Crazy - but true.
If a patient relapses or is in advanced stage then its common to see people have an SCT performed. This is a Stem Cell Transplant previously known as a bone marrow transplant. Very high dosage chemo drugs are given - usually ICE - in an attempt to destroy the bone marrow and then this is followed up with the SCT procedure. If you reach this stage in treatment the chances of recovery etc drop to around 60%.
So thats the worst case scenario so to speak - maybe i'll be deemed a pesimist or acting in a 'negative' manner for reading up on / posting that stuff, but im definately the type of person that likes to be informed as possible and know exactly the the implications of things will be.
Realistically - purely going by odds and medical opinion and reports - i should, God willing, be fine for the forseeable future. What will be more of an 'issue' for me will be any long term side effects from the treatment. There's all sorts. I definately had chest pains during the chemo and i personally feel my lung capacity has dropped a bit - so how would i go with hard physical exercise? I'm curious! Even just going in to work daily - how would i cope with that - and the mental stresses of work in an investment bank?
2008 also promises to be a very busy and historic year for quite a few reasons - so there'll be plenty of challenges ahead.
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