Round 2: Amped!

Wow! Riding the steroid buzz. I can type faster. I could probably hit a curve ball. Scratch that one. Anyway, this day was much like the first one three weeks ago, except that an allergenic reaction was not a part of today. Therefore, everything went marginally faster. I arrived at the clinic about 9:50 a.m., was ushered in about 10:10--there were already people there ahead of me--and prepped. Then we had a nice conversation with AbJ, that was revelatory in a couple ways, about which I will elaborate below. Suffice to say that it still took until 4:20 p.m. to drip and push the R-CHOP and Velcade into my superior vena cava. I slept after they pumped in the benadryl (anti-allergenic) but was up the rest of the time reading from the cancer book and listening to: Jack Sheldon, Diana Krall, Clayton Bros and others on the nano. (Those names are for the wandering hipster who may find this blog, or, indeed may be a close bud.) I lapped everyone in the room except for one guy who showed up as I was leaving.  Upshot: I am feeling great, no nausea right now, hungry, and, to reiterate--juiced.

I asked AbJ about CT scans. He was surprised that we hadn't discussed this earlier. He will do CTs and bone marrow after Round 3. I had read that many clinics do this, but hadn't found out what he did. Some clinics, he said, do this after 2 or 4 rounds. They repeat the tests only in the areas where cancer was previously located, ergo another bone marrow--not looking forward to that. At that point it becomes quite interesting. There is a chance--since my treatment is a conservative (!) one for this particular cancer--that what I am going through now will have no effect on the MCL. (Protectively, until now, I haven't even thought that was a possibility.)  At that time decisions will be taken about stem-cell transplants, a much more harsh treatment. He likes either Huntsman or LDS (IHC) in SLC for these, saying that LDS is more communicative. (Since he is a graduate resident of Huntsman, he says he can criticize them.) But, bottom line: quality care in both. Second and third outcomes are the same: in one, all evidence of cancer is gone; in the second, it is going but not gone. In either case, the six cycles will be finished as scheduled.  Thereafter, there is maintenance, which is tx every week for 4 weeks every 6 months, repeated 4 times, i.e., 2 years. I have forgotten what they will use for maintenance but it will not take much time and will not have any unpleasant side effects. At least that is what I took away from the discussion.

The World Series beckons...probably post tomorrow on changes, if any..