CLEAR scan & my 1st radiation treatment

I have GREAT news!! The Hodge has been beaten! I had my PET Scan on Saturday August 6th and had to anxiously wait until today to get my results. Let me tell you, the waiting is HORRIBLE! I do not recommend getting any type of scan on a Saturday when you have to wait longer to get your results since nobody works weekends in Oncology. I guess people are not supposed to have cancer on the weekends? I was going to wait until my radiation appointment today (at 2:30pm) to speak with my Radiation Oncologist to find out my scan results, but was way too anxious and nervous to wait all day, so decided to email my Oncologist and ask for the results. He had his nurse call me back immediately and she said my scan came out good, and shows "no evidence of active disease." This is the BEST news I have ever received in my life!! I was overcome with so many different emotions...all good ones of course! It is unbelievable what I have been through since February and I am just so thankful that chemo worked and killed those nasty cancer cells like it was supposed to.

When I arrived at my radiation appointment, I spoke with my radiation Oncologist who was able to give me more detail about my scan results. She told me that the mass I had above my heart IS still there, but does not show any cancer cells on the PET Scan. She said the mass is about half the size that it was, and could just be scar tissue, but the radiation will ensure that if there were any tiny cancer cells still there that they will be destroyed. I was a little disappointed that there is anything left there at all, but she said that it is very common for there to be residual tissue after chemo...so that made me feel better. She also said that they will watch it as close as they can, especially for the next 18 months. I still CANNOT believe that I am officially in remission!! SO happy!

This looks similar to the machine that I receive radiation from.

I started radiation today, and will be having a total of 17 treatments, going Monday-Friday (about 3 and a 1/2 weeks). I have 1 down....16 more to go! I am hoping that all goes smoothly with radiation. I will feel like I am REALLY done and in remission when I finish radiation. It is a really fast process, much different than the almost 4 hour chemo sessions I was doing. The longest part was just positioning me perfectly on the table, and then it takes just a couple of minutes. Total was about a 15 minute process. Everybody says that you can't feel anything during radiation, but I definitely felt a warm sensation on my chest where they were radiating, but it didn't hurt. And now, my chest is getting more red by the hour and feels really warm. Fingers crossed for limited side effects.

Thank you so very much to all of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers! I really do have the most amazing people in my life who have helped me through all of this and I appreciate it SO much!