Not The Christmas Present I Was Looking For

I saw my hematologist/oncologist today. I got the news I didn’t want to hear but what I was expecting after reviewing my blood work from last week. I will begin chemo treatments sometime after the first of the year. I have to get a referral from my primary care doctor and approval from my insurance company to see a surgeon to have a portacath put in. This is put into my chest underneath my skin so they can use that for the chemo without having to use the veins all the time. This device can stay in there for a year or more and in the months I am not doing chemo, it just has to be flushed out once a month with saline solution.

Dr. Netaji based his recommendation not only on the blood work that showed a doubling of the lymphocytes in six months, but also on my fatigue, night sweats (but doc! I only had one bad soaking one, one night!), and the fact that the CT scan I had last week showed major growth in all the lymph nodes in my neck, stomach and groin. Concerning my neck, which bothers me the most, the CT scan report says, “There is prominent general adenopathy in every major nodual chain of the neck.” The conclusion of the two page report says, “This patient has mild splenomegaly and widespread pathological lymphadenopathy…” Basically, spleen not too badly involved, but naughty swollen lymph nodes everywhere. Using a term I have heard, I guess this makes me a lymphomaniac.

I will get more blood work on January 4th, to make sure last week's hadn’t worsened for other reasons and then I will see Dr. Nataji on January 9th to set up my chemo schedule. I did ask him about using only Rituxan as I posted yesterday. He said we could do that if I really wanted, but he prefers to “hit it with the big guns” right from the beginning. He said he has one patient in a four year remission right now. As we talked I told him that I had read a lot. Basically he said I could read anything but you can’t believe everything you read. He said he was going to email me some articles on treatment. He agreed that if I really wanted, I could try the single agent Rituxan for a month. Obviously what he left unsaid was that when that didn’t work, we would go with his recommendation.

When I got home from work tonight, his email was waiting. There were two articles from the recent Hematology magazine. I had just read the one article on line this weekend! What that author said at the end of that article was one of the reasons I want to try the less toxic Rituxan by itself. Funny, same article and he is using it to convince me to go with the big guns and I am using it to convince him to go with something less toxic first. Obviously I have given it a lot of thought lately and especially this afternoon. Why not try it “for a month?” Rituxan is one ingredient of the triple combination he wants to do anyway. If it doesn’t work, fine, at least I gave it a shot, right?

I also told him I was a little concerned with my memory. He said that once you are over 50 you need to carry a little notebook around as he does. I said, "But doctor, I forgot that Cheryl had major surgery this year! I can't recall any of it and she made me work real hard and I finally remembered the attacks that led up to the surgery, but never could remember the surgery." He just stopped his notebook speech, thought for a minute, and then said, "I think you should see a Neurologist." (Probably was thinking psychiatrist, too.) I told him I already had an appointment for the 22nd of this month because of the pain in my legs (which, by the way, he didn't think is being caused by the swollen lymph nodes).

Well, that is about it for now. I started this blog to primarily keep my extended family and friends up-to-date and I really don’t know who is reading it. I have set it up so that anonymous comments can be added without having to actually sign in and join Blogger. I have had a couple of people at church, several from my ACOR list, and one person from work tell me they are reading it. But that is it. Do me a favor? Click on the "comments" at the end of today’s post; if you are not a member of Blogger, under “choose an identity” just click the “other” button then put in your name; or choose the “anonymous” button; type inside the text block, maybe type in your first name at the end of your comments so I can guess who left the comment; then hit “publish your comment.” That is all there is to it. If you really don’t want it here for the world to see, send me an email either to my work or at home to let me know you are reading this. (For home email first type jtw890 then type @aol.com – I broke that up so automatic scanners didn’t get my email and then send lots of junk) Thanks.

Trials keep You Strong,
Sorrows keep You Human,
Failures keeps You Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only God keeps You Going!