It's like spelling mistakes

From Robert Miller's latest newsletter from Lymphoma Survival.com (to subscribers only):

"The purpose of gene profiling is to establish clues as to who is at the

greatest risk for a particular type of cancer based on identification of

"spelling mistakes" contained in a person's DNA."

Ironic that this cancer--or all cancers?--is due to what they call a spelling mistake! Me, 

the grammar/spelling fascist that I am, the former 8th grade spelling champion!

PET scan

A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that uses a radioactive substance called a tracer to look for disease in the body. A PET scan shows how organs and tissues are working. This is different than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT), which show the structure of and blood flow to and from organ. 

The dental school visit in the morning was definitely worse than the PET scan in the afternoon! I hate that dental dam and then they couldn't even finish the filling!

I was worried about lying there for an hour so I took the Valium ahead of time but it really wasn't a problem. I didn't sleep well the night before so I just fell asleep, at least for the hour that you are in a recliner in a darkened room while the sugar water is drawn to tumors. (A good argument for not eating sugar: don't feed any cancer that might be growing, however slowly) Being in the machine with my arms over my head was not great so I kept my eyes closed. They said each section took 3 minutes so that was only 24 minutes. For the 7 foot man it took a lot longer!

So until I learn the results in a couple of days, I'm trying not to worry. I am feeling good, the sun is out, whatever will be, will be (I love that song, Que Sera, Sera)!

Losing it

Is it something that will not bother me for years, just as I may have already had it for ten years? Do I regard it as a ticking time bomb or just as an incentive to get healthier?

I've lost 6 or 7 pounds in the last 6 weeks which took a lot of hard work and is quite a bit harder because of the plantar fasciitis. I think if I succeed in following Robert Miller's recommendations or the diet in the Abascal Way I will easily (is there such a thing for a middle-aged woman?) lose 7 more. That has to be good for someone with this diagnosis (I still prefer to say it that way then to use the L word).

To tell or not to tell

Who to tell?  You can't tell everyone in your life--that takes too much emotional energy. It takes energy just dealing with a friend's reaction. Of course they mean well and at times they are horrified, though I wish I could tell them JFGI and then we can talk.

Do you tell people in your yoga class (very small class, and regulars)? No. Do you tell friends you haven't talked to for months?

Maybe you don't really need to tell anyone who doesn't already know, at least not until--IF--you get symptoms. Then they might need to know why you don't look well.

Or is that what a blog is for, really? Just go read my blog and then we can talk. Better than Wikipedia!

Prognosis is a tricky thing

If you take a quick look at non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and its prognosis, you can get pretty alarmed.

According to the American Cancer Society, the overall 5-year relative survival rate for patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is 63% and the 10-year relative survival rate is 51%.

My form, called follicular lymphoma that is low grade or indolent, has better prospects. So you may have to put up with me a lot longer!

In general, the average survival rate for follicular lymphoma is 7 - 10 years, depending on other risk factors. New drug treatments, particularly monoclonal antibodies, have significantly improved survival rates. According to a recent study, 91% of patients with follicular lymphoma now survive the first 4 years after diagnosis, compared with 69% of patients treated in the past with older types of drugs.

So I have a better prognosis than most because we caught it early, it is slow-growing (I may have already had it for ten years, see blog about 2003), and there are no symptoms, no known spreading to other organs. Robert Miller and many others have lived with it for over 20 years. That's what I intend to do.

This is a good summary:
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/non-hodgkins-lymphoma/prognosis.html

FYI:
Do you know there are 80 kinds of lymphoma? Yowee! Wikipedia: The 2008 World Health Organization "lists over 80 different forms of lymphomas in four broad groups."

Lymphatic system

Lymphatic comes from the Latin word lymphaticus, meaning "connected to water."

Who ever thinks of the effect of stress on their lymphatic system? For that matter, who ever thinks of their lymphatic system at all? That their lymph nodes form a "system"?

Robert Miller of Lymphoma Survival.com talks about stress:

The organ that gets “engaged” to do the work of maintaining balance in the 

body is the lymphatic system. If everything in life is in balance (wishful 

thinking), there is generally adequate capacity in the system to get the job 

done without over-taxing the immune system. BUT, when ANY of the factors 

(masses) mentioned above become “abnormal”…either too much or too 

little…the lymphatic system is over-stressed, day in and day out.

From Wikipedia: 

The lymphatic system has multiple interrelated functions:

• It is responsible for the removal of interstitial fluid from tissues
• It absorbs and transports fatty acids and fats as chyle from the digestive system
• It transports white blood cells to and from the lymph nodes into the bones
• The lymph transports antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cells, to the lymph nodes where an immune response is stimulated.

I've looked at a few YouTube videos. Some of them are too technical, some too brief, some are about handing over your life to God after the diagnosis. I am more likely to hand my life over to a naturopath.