Lymphoma, cont'd

I'm way overdue to update this blog with the status of my treatment for lymphoma. My half dozen regular readers already know my status, but I've promised to update this, so here it is:

I'm now three down, three to go, with the chemo treatments. I got the first three treatments every two weeks, not the standard three weeks, because trial work in Germany for my kind of lymphoma and the treatment I'm getting indicates some marginal benefit for getting them every two weeks - plus, I should be done before Christmas. I'm now on a once every three weeks schedule to allow me to travel to Seattle to see my first granddaughter at Thanksgiving . . . and I'll still finish before Christmas.

Remarkably, I've experienced no nausea. Fatigue, if any, has been marginal but they say it will build up. The main problem has been the low white cell count that occurs after each treatment. I get a follow-up shot the day after treatment to prod the bone marrow into generating more white cells, but that takes ten to fourteen days to kick in. During that time I have to be very careful about exposure to viruses or bacteria of any kind. After my second treatment, I wasn't so careful. I developed a three-degree fever that resulted in my being hospitalized for four days while they waited for blood cultures to come back. They were negative, which means it could have been anything. If they had come back positive, they would have replaced my port.

Another remarkable thing is that I still have most of what little hair I had left, although my doctor says the hair loss occurs slowly.

A bigger issue for me is that the swelling in my left ankle and leg is reduced but has not gone away. My oncologist reminded me how bad it was when he first saw me, and says his objective is to get the swelling reduced one hundred percent.

So, here I am at the halfway point, trying to stay out of harm's way while swine flu and other nasty bugs are in the air (and on door handles, and escalator hand rails, and other things we touch). I'm also waiting to see if I get "chemo brain," or a befuddlement that sets in as you near the end of the treatments. Since I'm befuddled more often than not anyway, it might be hard to know if that becomes an issue.

Stay tuned . . .