This past Tuesday was my fifteenth immunotherapy treatment and they also had me come in early for another ultrasound scan before the treatment. So, coming in early meant that I had to get up extra early… yuck! 😀 When I arrived I made my way to radiology and checked in. After a bit of a wait (not too long though) they took me back and performed the scan. I’m not exactly sure why they use the ultrasound scan and the CT scan (alternating every three months) but I guess it gives them different data and subsequently a more complete idea of what is going on with the lymph nodes.

Conversations

After the scan I made my way back over to the oncology center and had a bit of a wait there, but not overly long this time around. While waiting, I spoke to an older couple who were also waiting for treatment. They told me the wife had had brain cancer that had been in remission for about 6 years. Unfortunately, this past Monday she’d had an unexpected seizure and bad headache and when they had her checked out after the seizure, the doctors said the cancer had reappeared and was the cause of the seizure.

So, they are back to discuss treatment options and while hoping for the best, they are also being pragmatic and are planning a “just in case” family vacation so they can spend as much time together and with their family as possible in the worst case scenario. They said they have two grown kids and I think they mentioned at least one grand kid so I hope they’re all able to join in on the plans. The husband had an accent that I believe was probably Australian, but could also have been British. I’m not great at identifying accents. Anyway, he made me laugh because while we were talking I told them that because of the shape and size of the scar on my leg where they removed the melanoma last year, I had had some fun telling people that the scar was from the surgeon “biting” me. He told me “Aw man, you should at least go with a shark bite because it’s more believable!” 😀

Scan Results

The labs and infusion treatment went without issue and while there was a bit of extra wait time between labs and the infusion, I still ended up getting out of the hospital about the same time as most of the previous appointments. Since I’m writing this after the fact, I can also tell you that the ultrasound scan seems to have come back “normal” according to the notification I received Thursday or Friday (I don’t member for sure which day I saw that note) but regardless, “normal” is the best I could hope for right now, so I’m happy about that.