I had my post treatment, post CT scan Dr. appointment today. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best news possible, I think it ranked an 8.5. All my labs are great, and the CT scan didn't show any signs of new cancer. Officially I'm in 100% remission now. However, there was one small spot that they found on the CT scan. It's a 1mm-2mm abnormality of some kind, but too small yet to be identified by any means. It is so small that as of only 5 years ago, they would not have been able to see it at all. The reason for concern is that it was not present during my previous CT scan and PET scan. On one end of the spectrum, it could be the beginnings of a recurrence which would not be good. I summarized it as "FUGLY" which I think you can figure out the 2 root words of that. The other end is that these little abscesses occur all the time and they are completely benign. If you get a cold, one can form, and stay there the rest of your life, but it's nothing that will ever be of any concern at all. I should backtrack just a bit here and say that I think he was talking in an upper lobe (lung). I'll have to confirm with my wife (an RN) as once some of those medical terms start flying, I am not all that great at remembering them. It is just something to keep an eye on and if it grows any larger than it currently is, then I think we've all got a pretty good idea of what it will be.
Now, as for prognosis. All in all, not bad, considering I'm an advanced melanoma patient. The is the first time in a year and a half that my oncologist has actually given me a percentage for the possibility of recurrence. That percentage is high to some, but to others (myself) it is what was expected. In the next ten years I've got a 50%-60% chance of having a recurrence. Basically out of 100 people with the exact same cancer to include the stage 3, 50-60 of them will either have active cancer or will have passed away already as a result of it. The way I look at it, I've got 40%-50% chance of never having to deal with this again in my life.
As for what "recurrence" actually means as it pertains to me. My oncologist asked me that today, and I think I gave him the "cliff notes" version. I said, "Active cancer." Turns out, that's only part of the story. If I have a recurrence, it would generally not be considered a secondary primary cancer...for melanoma this is getting another spot on your skin like I had initially. A recurrence in my situation means that the stage 3 part of it is back and likely having already progressed to stage 4 upon its return. At this point, it means that it's ugly...really ugly...as my reference above stated. The cancer would be treatable, but not curable. I think that you can add one and one together...most of the time it equals two so you know what that means in this case. If I ever get to this point, quality of life will become a major factor in my life and the treatment that I'll be undergoing, (as if it quality of life is not already an issue).
That about sums it up. It was a good appoinment, but humbling at the same time. Again, I learned more about myself and what my future holds in store for me.