Went to the doctor yesterday. It was a good outing, Ben came along for the ride. Overwhelmed by downtown and way too hot.
       Anyway, they took some blood and found that my hemoglobin (red blood cells) are really low again. They haven't been this low since Dec'10. So the talk begins of a transfusion.....GREAT!!!!. I guess it's not that bad cause I had it done when I had the surgery and felt great for a couple months. It's a normal thing with chemo that they drop a bit.
      As we talk and he asked me more questions, it seem my body is reacting to the chemo. Slowly, but something is happening. The night sweats have stopped.....knock on wood....and I had the best sleep in a long time the other night. I'm moving around, although slowly, still moving.  He said that all the other levels are good and that he doesn't want to pursue the transfusion right now. The levels may come back on there own with time.

      So I have another appt. just before my next chemo to check it out, and then do chemo on Aug 4th.

vic

 Weekend has come and gone. Pretty much couldn't do anything. Very tired. Can't really move around for long. Just stayed inside either on the couch or in bed. I'm eating pretty good but the acid is always backing up and not really letting me eat the way I want. I'll check with the doc about that. Went out for a bit today. Was nice to get out for a ride in the car. Waaayyyyy too hot, going back to the air con....
I have an appointment on Wednesday for a follow up. I can ask more questions then. My next chemo is on Aug 4h. Hope it goes better than the last one.

vic

In the end they were able to get all the drugs into me. The last one finished at 830pm. They had to move me from the chemo clinic cause it closes at 7pm to an in/out patient room upstairs. At about 6pm they told me they were going to keep me over night for observation. My blood pressure dropped to 70/49. not good unless it's always that way. So we were ready to bunker down for the night.

Slowly through the evening my BP started to come back. They made a call to my doctor and he said that if it comes back to normal and stays for a bit then we can go home. By 11pm we were cleared and on our way home.

Didn't really want to leave the room we had. It had an amazing view of the downtown core, like a hotel. But we like our own bed better.

vic

So.......once they up the dose of the 1 first chemo drug, almost instantly I had a reaction. Boy did I react.

I got the chills so bad that you'd think I was naked in the arctic. They had to stop the drug and give me demerol. The shaking continued for about a half hour. Not to mention they pulled every blanket out of the oven to cover me. They even brought something that look like a vacuum that pumped hot air under the blankets........It was bad and scary. Thank god for Colleen to walk me through it.....But I scared her something fierce. She didn't like it.

I had a fever of 39.6. They can't start the chemo again until my temp drops to under 38.

It has so I'm back on. Not sure if they will be able to get all the drugs into me. Keep you posted.

Today is the day. I made sure that Colleen & I woke up so we could leave by 630 for an appointment at 9. Not knowing how traffic would be we arrived at 720. Just a bit early..........So we slept in the car for a bit.

Once they got me in, they hooked me up and gave me a bunch of Benadryl . Incase of a reaction. They started me on my first of 4 chemo drugs. They start out slowly then increase it. This one takes the longest. Every thing is going well. Nice little set up but they said I would get a bed because of the duration. Oh well. Picture below is the first injection that will last 8 month.

I guess when my doc said asap it doesn't really mean 2 weeks.

Well, I'm booked to start my chemo on the 14th. I will have to see him the day before for some more blood tests, and hopefully a big pep talk. He will go over some of the side effects that may happen before, during or after the first dose.

Some of the other things that came from yesterdays meeting;
During this time I was told not to be more than a 30min drive from a hospital. Mostly for infection reasons. May put a damper on some holiday plans.
My liver is about 3 inches bigger than the last CT scan in December. They say that it's somewhat normal cause of my disease and it's all connected to the lymphatic system like my spleen. The chemo should help. My lymph nodes haven't changed much. That's good news. Once it hits them, it can spread really fast.

Thursday will be a long day. Not knowing how I will feel on Friday, I will try to post again.

"if at first you don't succeed, . . . . don't try parachuting"

vic

Had my appointment today. Colleen and I knew this would happen at some point, and looks like the time has arrived. Looks like my unclassifiable lymphoma has come back.

I will be starting chemo in 2 weeks. My doc wants to book it asap. So it could be before. I've started on some pre-meds already. My chemo will consist of 4 meds to be taken by injection. The first one will last 8 hrs........great, tons of fun. My session will be once every 3 weeks for 8 months. After the 8th month I will continue one of the drugs, as a maintenance, for the next 2 years. During that time they will see me every 3 months, do a CT scan and take blood. Hopefully all goes well.

My doctor said that after the 2 years I should be feeling better and could go for 2-3-4 years without any symptoms. If and when it comes back, I will have to start again.

Don't know what else to say right now. Still need to process everything but wanted to let you all know.

vic

Had the CT scan yesterday at Toronto Western Hospital. Not much they can say. Even if you ask nicely, very non-comital. Next week I'll meet with my oncologist and he'll go over it.

later
vic