Today was another busy day spent at the Christiana Hospital and the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center. I arrived at 8am for my MUGA scan at the hospital, having taken 2 oxycodones in the car to prepare me for the bone marrow biopsy. When we found the office where my heart would be scanned, I was excited to discover that the waiting room had a fish tank!! Yay! There is something very soothing about watching fish swim. I am glad that so many of my doctors' offices have fishies for me to enjoy :) After a few minutes I was called back for my first injection of the radioactive dye that would allow the technicians to see my heart and how well the valves are working. The tech who worked with me was a fairly young guy who seemed to be new to the job. He was very nervous and missed my vein on his first attempt at sticking me. Luckily the second try worked. I was pretty out of it from the oxycodone at this point. After waiting 20 minutes, I was given a second injection of the radioactive fluid. Then the techs hooked me up to some EKG-style heart monitor thingies, and lowered a big x-ray camera down over my chest. I waited while they took pictures of the top of my heart for 10 minutes, and then the left ventrical for another 10 minutes. Then I was done! Not a bad procedure....
Next I went over to HGCC (Helen Graham Cancer Center) for my bone marrow biopsy with Dr. Guarino, my oncologist. He is a fantastic guy, and his approach to treating my cancer is very aggressive, which I like. So today I was taken to a bed and given an IV and an injection of some sedatives. I was already feeling pretty loopy from the oxy, but this stuff really knocked me out. I drifted in and out of sleep for most of the procedure, which involved taking samples of bone marrow from both sides of my lower back as well as one small sliver of bone. I vaguely remember waking up to hear Dr. Guarino yelling "her bones are too strong and healthy!!! ::grumble:: I can't cut it!!" So I suppose that's a good sign :) After much pressing, he was able to extract a sample. I could feel most of what was going on, but it wasn't really painful. It just felt strange to have someone pulling small pieces from my body. The doctor's nurse, Cheryl, held my hand the entire time and talked to me. I'm sure I was speaking gibberish. Once the procedure was over, they rolled me onto my back and I passed out for about 45 minutes.
When I woke up, my parents were in the room. Nurse Jen came in and talked with me about some options I have for a clinical trial. I have decided I will probably agree to one that involves about 6 months of regular CHOP-R chemo followed by a possible white blood cell transfusion. Some patients will be given the transfusion and others won't. I am hopeful that I get randomly selected for the group that DOES get it though, since my doctor seems to think it would be a good way to ensure that my body is full of completely healthy cells.
Before I left, they drew some blood and then had me go for a quick chest x-ray. I barely remember both since I was still pretty woozy. Thank god they did the blood-drawing while I was already sedated, because losing blood usually makes me feel faint.
Tomorrow I will begin my chemo. The final diagnosis appears to be Diffuse Large B-cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is fairly common, but usually affects older people. It is fast-growing cancer, but the doctor said that means that it will most likely be fast-disappearing too. My chemo is called CHOP-R, and the letters stand for the various drugs that I will receive. Tomorrow I get the R, a drug called Retuxin (sp?). The process can take up to 4 hours. I will also be getting a PET scan, which is like a CT scan except much more advanced. It will scan my entire body for cancer and take about 2 hours. So I'll let you all know how that goes. Then Wednesday I'm back for the rest of the chemo: the CHOP drugs. After that I will return for more chemo every 3 weeks. Over all I have to go for 8 cycles of chemo. You do the math on how many months that adds up to. I'm too sleepy. Bedtime for me. Treatment begins at 6:30am tomorrow. Yikes!
Nightnight everyone and thanks for all the love :)
Laur
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2 comments:
I hope all the chemo works and that you will be all healthy again soon. I also love looking at fish tanks but for me it's 'cause water calms me...any size body of water just makes me feel at peace. Simply thinking about water calms me. :) I love the updates in this journal. Good luck! and if you need anything just let me know!!!
Hi Lauren,
I am Rita - Maureen Byrnes' sister.
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on your college graduation. It is a big step in your life, despite how you may feel right now.
I wanted to let you know that I read your blog entries for this first week of chemo, and that you are being treated with almost the same protocol as I was when I had NHL in 1998 (at 41 years old). The only difference is that I didn't have the Rituxan until after all the rounds of CHOP and radiation therapy. I will not attempt to tell you how you'll feel, except that rest is very important. I did have the mouth sores, but a "magic mouthwash" concoction worked for me. Your dr. will prescribe that if you need it.
Please take care, allow yourself to be sad (and mad) but then go on with your life. I am happy to speak to you, so contact Kevin and Maureen and we can talk on the phone, if you'd like.
God Bless.
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