Tim Scott first survived ocular melanoma, then survived non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  It took a regimen of brachytherapy to help him past ocular melanoma, and a form of chemotherapy called r-epoch to lead to survivorship after his diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Tim would say his health is about 80 percent of what it was pre-diagnosis, but he is happy to be able to run and hike.

 

Tim’s journey began in April 2012 when he noticed that whenever he closed his right eye, there was this gray area  in the corner.  He went to an optomestrist who ran some tests and told Tim he would have an opthamologist come in right away and take a look at Tim.  The opthamologist ran some tests and said Tim had ocular melanoma.  Tim had no idea one could get cancer in their eye.  He was shocked.

 

Tim Scott did some research and learned he could have a small, medium or large tumor.  He called the doctor who told Tim the tumor was “large.”  Tim examined his options and decided to go with brachytherapy, a procedure in which he was given a general anesthetic, radiation pellets were placed on a small device which went on his eye.  Five days later, the tumor was removed.  He did not feel pain but had to wear a patch over his eye.  Tim was swollen for three or four weeks but could only see out of a tiny portion of his right eye.  As his sight returned, he learned he had lost depth perception. 

 

He did some more research and learned the tumor could have been classified 1-A, 1-B or Class 2.  He received a call telling him the tumor was Class 1-B, which had a survival rate of 80 percent. 

 

Tim Scott took a turn for the worse in 2015.  Around Thanksgiving, he began to feel pain in his lower back.  At first he thought it was nothing, but it not only wouldn’t go away and it began to spread.  I began taking twice a day, which soon became four times a day.  The pain intensified to the point in which he couldn’t sleep, so he went to an emergency room.  Tim received a call from a doctor telling Tim he had an enlarged lymph node right under his navel, which was cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

 

His options included two types of chemotherapy.  The one he chose was called R-Epoch.  His oncologist said that was the best option, but it had to commence soon because surgery wasn’t an option.  Like a lot of people on chemo, Tim was tired all the time and food didn’t taste good.  When the chemotherapy was done, he had sores in his mouth, constantly was falling asleep and said he felt like he would never feel good again.  That said, about four weeks after the chemotherapy regimen ended, he underwent a PET scan, which let him know the treatment was successful.

 

Eventually the mouth sores went away, his sense of taste returned in full, and these days, Tim Scott doesn’t think much about cancer.