Good news everyone!
We had our first PET scan yesterday since we found out the cancer came back.
And praise God, everything in my liver, spleen, and spine are gone!
There is a little area of lymph nodes near my liver that are suspect, but my doctor thinks they may look the way they do from treatment. She's going to speak to the radiologist tomorrow to figure it all out.
All in all this is great news, and dependent upon what those lymph nodes are doing, we may be ready for transplant on March 10th!
Yippee!!!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Getting Closer...
Hello all, I hope this post finds everyone well!
Some nifty developments over the past 2 weeks.
Apparently, Marist has become a hot zone for the flu and other viral outbreaks over the past two weeks. Luckily, I was planning on traveling home anyways since I was scheduled to start chemo this past Tuesday.
Unfortunately I didn't travel home soon enough and caught whatever bug has been floating around campus. I came down with a nice low grade fever which awarded me the privilege to travel to Sloan on Saturday, Super bowl Sunday, and Monday to receive antibiotics.
I returned to Sloan to see my doctor on Tuesday and Wednesday only to learn that the virus had been playing with my immune system and causing my blood counts to drop. Which meant no chemo. Thankfully, they returned to decent enough levels by Thursday and I was able to start my 3 day cycle. However no good deed goes unpunished. While the clinic is only open on weekdays, I had to be admitted on Friday night so I could get my last day of chemo today. I was discharged around 2:30pm and I write this post from the comfort of my own home.
As for the virus, I came down with a low grade fever (sub 101) on Saturday which lasted until Monday morning. Since the fever broke I've been feeling great and the subsequent cough has been getting better each day.
Any news on transplant?
We're still not sure if we're going to do an auto (use my own marrow) or an alloe (an unrelated donor) for the transplant. While my marrow is clean, it may not be strong enough to support my immune system. Luckily we do have 10 potential donors to test if we decide to go that route.
Apparently there are teams of doctors having a meeting about me to decide the best course of action. This includes the type of transplant along with the type of chemotherapy and radiation I will receive right before the transplant. So I'll keep everyone posted as I learn more.
Whats the schedule look like?
As of right now here is what we're looking at...
Feb. 20th & 21st -- Full set of scans
Feb. 22nd -- Bone Marrow aspirations to double check that my marrow is free of cancer and to determine how strong it is to allow for me to be my own donor for transplant
If the scans are clean and we decide to use my own marrow then the schedule is as follows:
March 4th -- Harvest my own bone marrow. This is done the old fashioned way. I have to go under general anesthesia while they pull out all the bone marrow they need one teaspoon at a time.
March 10th -- Admitted to Sloan to start my 5 week transplant process.
If we decide to go with an unrelated donor, this schedule may get pushed back as we have to be able to test and then harvest from the best possible candidate. This could push my admittance date to the end of March.
So everything is on the up and up?
Not quite. This last little virus has got my doctor worried. As we get closer and closer to transplant it's important that I stay as healthy as possible. The slightest sickness could push back my transplant date. She wants me to transition out of school and remain home until we start the transplant. Needless to say I'm bummed. Granted it's only about 4 weeks sooner then I had initially planned, I'd much rather be at Marist with my friends (sorry Mom & Dad).
Luckily my professors for my on the ground classes are more then willing to work with me to help me complete my coursework on time.
Hopefully, depending on how I do in transplant I'll be able to walk at graduation this May. And if I can't... that just means I'll have to throw an extra kick ass graduation party when I can!
Some nifty developments over the past 2 weeks.
Apparently, Marist has become a hot zone for the flu and other viral outbreaks over the past two weeks. Luckily, I was planning on traveling home anyways since I was scheduled to start chemo this past Tuesday.
Unfortunately I didn't travel home soon enough and caught whatever bug has been floating around campus. I came down with a nice low grade fever which awarded me the privilege to travel to Sloan on Saturday, Super bowl Sunday, and Monday to receive antibiotics.
I returned to Sloan to see my doctor on Tuesday and Wednesday only to learn that the virus had been playing with my immune system and causing my blood counts to drop. Which meant no chemo. Thankfully, they returned to decent enough levels by Thursday and I was able to start my 3 day cycle. However no good deed goes unpunished. While the clinic is only open on weekdays, I had to be admitted on Friday night so I could get my last day of chemo today. I was discharged around 2:30pm and I write this post from the comfort of my own home.
As for the virus, I came down with a low grade fever (sub 101) on Saturday which lasted until Monday morning. Since the fever broke I've been feeling great and the subsequent cough has been getting better each day.
Any news on transplant?
We're still not sure if we're going to do an auto (use my own marrow) or an alloe (an unrelated donor) for the transplant. While my marrow is clean, it may not be strong enough to support my immune system. Luckily we do have 10 potential donors to test if we decide to go that route.
Apparently there are teams of doctors having a meeting about me to decide the best course of action. This includes the type of transplant along with the type of chemotherapy and radiation I will receive right before the transplant. So I'll keep everyone posted as I learn more.
Whats the schedule look like?
As of right now here is what we're looking at...
Feb. 20th & 21st -- Full set of scans
Feb. 22nd -- Bone Marrow aspirations to double check that my marrow is free of cancer and to determine how strong it is to allow for me to be my own donor for transplant
If the scans are clean and we decide to use my own marrow then the schedule is as follows:
March 4th -- Harvest my own bone marrow. This is done the old fashioned way. I have to go under general anesthesia while they pull out all the bone marrow they need one teaspoon at a time.
March 10th -- Admitted to Sloan to start my 5 week transplant process.
If we decide to go with an unrelated donor, this schedule may get pushed back as we have to be able to test and then harvest from the best possible candidate. This could push my admittance date to the end of March.
So everything is on the up and up?
Not quite. This last little virus has got my doctor worried. As we get closer and closer to transplant it's important that I stay as healthy as possible. The slightest sickness could push back my transplant date. She wants me to transition out of school and remain home until we start the transplant. Needless to say I'm bummed. Granted it's only about 4 weeks sooner then I had initially planned, I'd much rather be at Marist with my friends (sorry Mom & Dad).
Luckily my professors for my on the ground classes are more then willing to work with me to help me complete my coursework on time.
Hopefully, depending on how I do in transplant I'll be able to walk at graduation this May. And if I can't... that just means I'll have to throw an extra kick ass graduation party when I can!
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