Appointments

This week I have 2 appointments that should help clarify where I am at with the lymphoma and what treatment plan would work best. I have a bone marrow biopsy tomorrow and on Friday I have the PET scan. Both of these are at Methodist so we don’t have to travel to Rochester. As we move forward hopefully everything will be here in the Twin Cities rather than in Mayo. The bone marrow biopsy makes me a little nervous even though I had one 15 years ago, I had been told that it is very painful. But at that time I did not think it was the worst thing ever. So hopefully tomorrow will be somewhat pain free and quick. The PET scan on Friday is really pretty easy except that I can’t have ANY caffeine for 24 hours before!! So that means Thursday morning and Friday morning….NO COFFEE!! I think I will get up really early and have a cup of coffee on Thursday morning. I should have warned the staff that will do the PET that I can be cranky without coffee. I had a PET at Mayo and you have to get there about 2 hours in advance. They start the IV and then they have you go into a limited light room and just relax. They don’t want you to have your phone and really just relax. When I had the PET 15 years ago I don’t remember that aspect, but it is kind of nice to just chill and relax before the procedure. Although when I was in the PET machine, I just thought they forgot about me and I raised my arm up to look at my watch to check the time….that was the only time the tech said anything when he said to me to try to keep still and maybe only 10 minutes left with the scan. Would have been nice if they had told me when they were half way done. So it will be interesting if Methodist has the same type of procedure.

Mayo Visit last week went great. Had an MRI of the thigh on Tuesday at the Mayo Sports Medicine facility in downtown Minneapolis. Kind of fun because the Timberwolves were practicing on their practice court so I got a little peak at their practice. No pictures are allowed, but It was fun to see. Wednesday had the 3 month follow up checkup with the surgeon and the radiation team. The surgeon was more than willing to put off the CT scan so we would not have any issues with the insurance company approving the PET scan. Once those results come in, I will have the Park Nicollet team push everything to the Mayo surgeon so he can look over and check what he would want to double check what he would with a CT scan. He also told us that if we need to have a lymphoma expert at Mayo just to let him know and he will recommend someone. As Dr. Chen said that is good to know because if needed a recommendation really helps the process move smoothly. Hopefully that will not be needed!!

I was searching for the “Emotional Impact of Living with Lymphoma” because honestly I was struggling. And I realized that cancer can be an emotional roller coaster at times!! 🙂

I think it will help once knowing exactly what is going on, if there are any other lymph nodes involved, that the bone marrow is clear and next steps.

This morning we had snow on the ground again and there were big flakes flying around…that was at 7 am. The deck was covered, the grass was covered and now at 1pm most of it is already gone!! Crazy Minnesota weather!!

Life can be a bumpy road, but can be scenic at times!

Take care!