Half way..to where?

Met today with AbJ--found out his derivation is Persian. Told him how we used to have plenty Persians on campus many years ago. He has heard it from my colleagues, those unfortunate enough to have preceded me. Long and short of it: I am half way through the six cycles of chemo; time to take some measures. I drink the barium milkshakes tonight, and in the morning, for an 8 a.m. appointment with the CT scanner at the hospital. He hopes to have the results back by late afternoon and then schedule a bone marrow on Friday. I am a little unclear. It seems he doesn't want to schedule the bone marrow until he can review the results of the CTs. I think he doesn't want to do that more intrusive procedure unless he sees evidence of resolution in the CT scans. Then we look farther to see if the bone marrow is clean, too. But it was not said that we wouldn't do bone marrow, it there is no resolution in the intestinal mass. (Maybe no one wants to go there.)

Some positive news: the other person (guy) in his practice who has Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) is apparently only some days ahead of me in the process. He is getting R-CHOP without the Velcade. And: tada! He has shown complete resolution after three cycles. That is really nice to hear because it makes my procedure seem a little less experimental. I joked about me-Velcade and him-not, and AbJ said we could leave the Velcade out if I wanted to. Personally, I feel the Velcade is responsible for my neuropathy, but AbJ says either one or both can produce this side effect. I am loathe to change in midstream, particularly since the Cornell people added the Velcade to the mix to get better results than R-CHOP alone. Notably the other guy's disease was further along than mine when he presented to AbJ.

If we cannot schedule bone marrow on Friday, then it will be Monday before my next infusion. What a day that would be. Hopefully, we can get the job done Friday. Round 4 will begin Monday next, no matter. If my condition is resolved, we go ahead with three insurance cycles. If I show no improvement--well--I don't want to think about it. But since we are all such individuals when it comes to outcomes, I must not rule that possibility out.