Last Dr appointment of the year

We met with Dr Elkins this afternoon to get the results of my PET scan.  I got very nervous right after we got in the room---Bear said I started acting like I was on drugs!!  Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before she came in.  She started with the polite small talk and asked about Christmas, etc.  I was about to explode. Finally she said, "Well the good news is nothing got worse."  Yes, that is very good news.  However, not much got better either.  A few got better but majority of the lymphnodes stayed the same.  Like the last time, all the reactive nodes are very small.  She did go into more detail this time about "uptake"--the amount of glucose it uptakes during the scan.  It can be anywhere from 1-12.  My highest uptake was in my spleen at 2.8 and she says alot of Lymphoma patients have uptakes between 7-8.  This makes her continue to believe that if it is a lyphoma that it is low grade, slow, or very early.
So what's the plan?  She is sending the scan to my surgeon to determine if any nodes are accessible for a biopsy.  We are hoping for some in my neck, to be the least invasive.  Also they are sending it to the endo to review the 1/4 of thyroid that is remaining.  It appeared to be very inflammed and there is a possibility that it will need to be removed.  Go ahead and ask---why didn't we do that in the first place!?!  Still unsure of that.....  Anyway, if the dr doesn't think that the nodes will be accessible or yield accurate results then the next step will be to remove my spleen and biopsy it.  Yes you can live without your spleen :)  The spleen is part of the lymphatic system and it had the most uptake and is the largest to biopsy, therefore the results will be more accurate.  This will be the last resort.
I think that this is the best report that we could have gotten.  I definitely made it clear to her that I was not in the waiting mood.  I was ready to have some idea of what's going on and proceed.  Hopefully we will hear from the surgeon by the end of the week.

We have had a crazy year and until the last few months, it had been a very good year for the Smith's.  And even after this started, there have been some high points.  I have learned a lot and we have grown as a family and for that I will be grateful.  But we are ready to see what 2013 will bring.  I know there will be some lows but I know there will be many blessings also!  We will be ringing in the New Year by watching the LSU Tigers beat Clemson in the Chic-fil-a Bowl!  GEAUX TIGERS!!!