When someone hears the diagnosis “cancer” the next word they think might be “terminal!” Then they’ll want to know, “how long do I have?” and they’ll sooner or later find themselves staring at a survival graph for their type of cancer.
This graph plots a survival curve on an x-y axis showing the number of patients and [...]
Entries from March 2009
March 29, 2009
“Lies, dammed lies, and statistics”
March 27, 2009
Night Games
I should be able to leave as soon as the doctor wanders by. The bad weather seems to have slowed down the daily rounds.
I thought last night’s display of projectile vomiting would get me evicted first thing this morning, but they seem to be forgiving about such indiscretions around here. I did get enough sleeping [...]
March 25, 2009
Great People
Illness reminds you just how much you need people and just how wonderful people can be. Memorial Health System continues to impress me from the top down. The administrators, doctors, nurses and support staff I’ve dealt with are great and they’ve won enough awards to prove my experience isn’t unique.
From getting me into a financial [...]
March 22, 2009
Chemo Prep
I don’t have as much hardware on my chest as General Patreas, but mine doesn’t come off with my jacket. This getup may look awful but it’s a godsend compared to all the needle pokes, blood draws, infusions and IVs it replaces.
This contrivance is called a Hickman Line, or central venous catheter (CVC).
This type of [...]
March 19, 2009
RICE Chemo
Okay boys and girls, here’s the vocabulary lesson for next week. These unpronounceable pharmaceuticals will soon be injected into my personal regions as the chemo cocktail with the acronym RICE:
Rituximab (ri TUK si mab) – a monoclonal antibody that works by targeting the CD20 antigen on B-cells. This wonder drug was also the R [...]
March 16, 2009
Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)
Susan and I are driving to Denver on Wednesday to meet Dr. Mark Brunvand, the transplant hematologist at Rocky Mountain Cancer Center. In the mean time I’ve been boning (sic) up on the transplant procedure.
Bone Marrow Transplant / Stem Cell Transplant
This treatment can cure a significant percentage of patients who undergo it. Those who [...]
March 12, 2009
It’s Back!
Actually the cancer never left; it was just suppressed by the R CHOP chemo. The quick return indicates what is called “refractory” disease rather than relapse, which is a return after remission.
Turns out this makes me typical. “While overall survival rates of adults with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) have improved since the advent of [...]
March 9, 2009
Salvage Therapy?
I had my fourth biopsy today and will find out the results on Thursday. If the inflammation is non-malignant, I’ll post a “False Alarm” on Friday. If it turns out my lymphoma is back, it will be considered a “relapsed disease” and I will be headed for salvage therapy.
That’s what they call it—look it up. [...]
