Stage IIIA

Well, I've finally gotten the news, my cancer is at stage IIIA which basically means that I have tumors present both above and below the diaphragm and I had no symptoms prior to diagnosis. The symptoms being night sweats, fever and weight loss. Although I did have other symptoms and was seeing my doctor, those listed above are the ones that determine A or B. They were also able to give me the results of the CT scan I had last weekend and tell me that my SVC (superior vena cava) had opened up to 1 cm from 1-2 mm, and that the tumor in my chest was 'markedly deteriorated' meaning it's smaller!!! At least we know that only 2 weeks later, my treatment has made a difference!
As far as prognosis goes they haven't given me any more information. We know that with lymphoma in general the cure rate is 75%, and of the 25% not cured, through a bone marrow transplant and intensive chemo treatments, most are cured. But I am going to be one the 75% that is cured!
My blood tests from my NADIR visit came back great, with my WBC at 8.7 which is actually higher than when I was first diagnosed, and the RBC and leukocytes in the normal range as well. So we feel very optimistic to get this great news, and also reassured by the doctors that although I will continue to have fatigue which will worsen, my reaction to the chemo in general should not worsen. So I won't really have much side effect other than slight nausea (which I can control with my medications) and being tired. This is such a relief to hear because when you get cancer everyone comes out of the woodwork to tell you all the horror stories they know and you start wondering if you can deal with it. But we now have information from the doctors and feel confident that all will continue to go well! He even told me I could go camping with my family as long as it was not during the week after my chemo treatment. Yahoo! I'll keep you posted, all my love, Denice