Treatment UPDATE 4/29 - NOT Good News last page: Cancer (aggressive Lymphoma) is back.

June 13, 2018, 10:45 AM

striker1

Thanks all!

I’ve developed a cough and a “gurgle” when I breath. Just in the last two days, weird.

So now I’m headed back to Oncology for a chest CT and a prescription for Levaquin.

When it rains, it pours! At least we can nip it in the bud now before it develops into a worse pneumonia.

June 13, 2018, 01:13 PM

ontmark

quote:
Originally posted by striker1:
Thanks all!

a prescription for Levaquin.

At least we can nip it in the bud now before it develops into a worse pneumonia.

I had two bouts of Pneumonia before I Started my chemo Treatment.

Levaquin Good Stuff. Was also put on Vfend for three months while I was going thru concurrent Chemo and Radiation due to invasive aspergillosis . That Vfend was real expensive.

Prayers Sent

God Bless Roy

Lung Cancer 2009

June 16, 2018, 02:55 PM

striker1

Updated in first post, tumors are shrinking!

June 16, 2018, 03:22 PM

lbj

That is good news, means more time.

____________________________________________________
New and improved super concentrated me:
Proud rebel, heretic, and Oneness Apostolic Pentecostal.

There is iron in my words of death for all to see.
So there is iron in my words of life.

June 16, 2018, 03:28 PM

Fla. Jim

quote:
Originally posted by striker1:
Updated in first post, tumors are shrinking!

Very good news indeed!!!

June 16, 2018, 03:36 PM

Outnumbered

That's awesome! Kick its ass!

June 17, 2018, 06:26 AM

Censored

quote:
Originally posted by striker1:
Thanks all!

I’ve developed a cough and a “gurgle” when I breath. Just in the last two days, weird.

So now I’m headed back to Oncology for a chest CT and a prescription for Levaquin.

When it rains, it pours! At least we can nip it in the bud now before it develops into a worse pneumonia.

I developed pneumonia right after my first chemo/radiation txt in January. Lost about 16 lbs before it cleared. Congrats on shrinking tumors, hoping you get a CR. Hang in there!

June 17, 2018, 09:38 AM

techguy

My brother and a guy I worked with both beat lymphoma, you can too. Glad to hear the treatments are helping.

June 17, 2018, 09:47 PM

83v45magna

Glad to hear the latest updates Striker1. Prayers for you and a swift kick in that cancer's ass.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. -Ecclesiastes 9:11

June 17, 2018, 10:20 PM

Dallas239

quote:
Originally posted by striker1:
Updated in first post, tumors are shrinking!

Very glad to read this.

"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here." -- Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address, Jan. 11, 1989

Si vis pacem para bellum
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
Feeding Trolls Since 1995

June 18, 2018, 05:04 AM

striker1

Round 3 of chemo is today.

When the time comes, it looks like we’re going to go with Rush U in Chicago for the bone marrow harvesting - transplant. I feel fortunate to live close enough to get access to world-class care. My oncologist is Rush trained as well. The other choices (both top notch) were Northwestern and U of Chicago.

June 20, 2018, 07:04 AM

striker1

I finally have an appointment on June 28th to go to Chicago (Rush University Hospital) for my initial consultation on the Bone Marrow Transplant.

Hoping I can pass all the screening tests with flying colors.

Not sure yet what the timetable is for harvesting, high-dose chemo (I need to finish 3 more "regular" chemos first), and transplant.

Looks like we will be staying right near the hospital in a residence for about a month to 5 weeks. There is a shuttle that transports to and from Rush. Have to go back every day for tests, labs, meds, maybe transfusions, and more fun, etc.

Had a talk with another survivor (Multiple Myeloma) who's had two transplants and is doing therapy now. Seems to be doing okay. He says you feel like ---- after the transplant(s) for about 2 months or so.

June 20, 2018, 09:13 AM

Sailor1911

Good Luck. Praying for your recovery.

Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

“If in winning a race, you lose the respect of your fellow competitors, then you have won nothing” - Paul Elvstrom "The Great Dane" 1928 - 2016

June 20, 2018, 09:14 AM

TMats

Whip this thing, manl

June 20, 2018, 09:19 AM

BB61

Best wishes!!!

June 29, 2018, 05:28 AM

striker1

I finally got to see the docs at Rush in Chicago (my oncologist is Rush trained and referred me to one of the best blood cancer docs in the Midwest). I also saw one of the cardio-oncologists.

Learned quite a bit about the auto stem cell transplant procedure, but still much to learn and take in. The newest thing is how they harvest. The old days involved surgery, needles, removing the stem cells from the hip. Now they have technology that “tells” the stem cells to go into the blood stream and they collect them from the IV.

Bottom line is that I’m still looking at stem cell therapy as my best hope for long term survival. Although I have in the past and am now responding to the chemo, the lymphoma will come right back unless the procedure is done.

For now, I’m continuing with my 6 rounds of “normal” chemo, round 4 is Monday. Stem cell procedure will take place later this summer.

June 29, 2018, 05:31 AM

arfmel

You're still in my prayers.

June 29, 2018, 10:17 AM

Rey HRH

I'm happy for the good progress report of the shrinkage.

This is shrinkage anyone would be happy for!

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.