Jonathan is coming with me to Richmond this morning for my pre-admission Rituxan infusion and intrathecal chemotherapy. Gosh, this whole dance seems pro forma at this point. We have the rhythm and the expectations down! Still, I always have a baseline concern that I will need blood ... or ... platelets ... or saline ... or something completely unexpected before they let me come back home for my last night before hospital admission. Fingers crossed!
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Well, that was a LONG day: 9 hours door to door with port access ... and blood draw ... then chemo pre-medications ... followed by 90 minutes of a Rituxan infusion in the not-private-Rev.Jim-roaming-treatment room ... then more waiting room time before a lumbar puncture with intrathecal chemotherapy ... and finally 30 minutes of flat-on-my-back rest to disperse the medicine.
A LONG procedural day highlighted by Kevin bringing me the very best of news! The results of Friday's PET scan are in and they are ALL that we had hoped for:"Complete Response" to the chemotherapy! Hurrah! "Marked interval improvement of lymphomatous disease without discrete foci of abnormal radiotracer uptake, consistent with positive treatment response."
I'm not quite sure that I have fully absorbed this amazing news; my head is still future-focused on the upcoming Bone Marrow Transplant and consolidating this gain. Bottom line: the Hyper CVAD protocol has purged the detectable lymphoma from my system. My bones, liver, lung, and orbits are all clear. This PET pathology report reads like a text rather than May's inventory of SUV numbers cluttering up the pages. Now, we need to double down. Diffuse large b-cell lymphoma is aggressive and due to this very aggressiveness, it responds well to treatment. However, its aggressiveness also causes it to recur even after "complete response." A Bone Marrow Transplant will (probably) seal the deal and forestall a recurrence (but put me at risk for graves-v-host disease and other dangerous conditions). What kind of BMT? How do we maintain this progress? At what physical cost do we consolidate this victory over lymphoma? My mind continues to debate the options .... Time for a second opinion!
Jonathan escorted me throughout the morning and brought me out to celebrate the fabulous PET scan news. He may have tracked down the best hamburger in Richmond (if not Virginia)! AND, in anticipation of my upcoming hospitalizations and home-incancerations, he was so sweet to clarify the take-out menu and procedures. Our thoughtful boy!
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