Hemangiomas or Neoplasms?

I saw a Lymphoma specialist today, Dr. Advani. She will help coordinate most of my care, even though the treatment will be administered by Palo Alto Medical Foundation. She makes a lot of sense, and is extremely good. Her office is in this pristine, brand-new Stanford Cancer Center. There were tons of bald heads and face masks funneling through, but I was still just about the only person in a stinkin wheelchair. Dr. Advani explained that only 5% of the patient population at Stanford has Primary Lymphoma of Bone (PLB) the way I do, so I guess I am special. She explained that in these rare cases they have a very high success rate. She reviewed my recent MRI with me. The new spots on my MRI are very small, the one on my back is 11mm, the sternum even smaller. It is possible that the spots are merely hemangiomas (birthmarks), even though they are concerning. We will do another round of chemo, then we will see if it shrinks. If it shrinks, we will know the spot was a tumor, and therefore I was stage IV, and therefore I will have at least 6 rounds of chemo (and I may need spinal taps). If the spots stay the same, we will probably say that the spots were hemangiomas, and therefore we will know I was in stage Ie, and therefore I would probably only get 4 rounds of chemo. After everything, I will get radiation.

I also learned that I will probably be non-weightbearing on my right hip for the duration of chemo and radiation. So, I'll be in a wheelchair or on crutches for quite a while. The good thing she said is that even if I am stage IV, her conservative estimate is that I have a 75-80% chance of cure. Pretty good odds to bet on.