Medical: PET Declined

Biopsy results (via phone): Officially Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL).  Had a phone chat with Dr JG, the oncologist (her office felt bad about my PET being cancelled, below), and so she was willing to talk on the phone that (1) yes, as the revised cytology had also suggested, the surgical biopsy confirmed was Mantle Cell Lymphoma and thanks to the surgery, they had a big enough sample to say (2)it  was of a kind that was relatively* slow growing**

My scheduled PET scan has been declined by Neighborhood Health Plan and cancelled.  This stuff introduces so much delay--now I have to find a CAT scan instead (earliest offered is next Friday, not this as the PET was)

*It is of little comfort that someplace else there's a guy or gal whose MCL is growing faster than mine. From my standpoint, this is the fastest-growing cancer I've ever had.

**According to the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society fact sheet on MCL (pdf), this suggests I do not have the blastoid version (for which prognosis is bad).  I have the regular version described as:

There has been truly remarkable progress in the treatment

of MCL over the last decades with a near doubling of

overall survival, even though relapses are still common.

Most patients respond well to initial chemotherapy (with

or without stem cell transplantation). However, for most

patients, the disease eventually progresses or returns.

Treatment resistance may develop, which means that a

patient may become less responsive to chemotherapy.

The median progression-free period for patients with MCL

is 20 months and the median overall survival is between

5 and 7 years. ... Researchers continue to

look for therapies that will prolong remissions and extend

survival in patients with MCL. Outcome data cannot

determine how any one person will respond. Talk to your

doctor for more information