Monday, November 9: First maintenance

Mike had his first maintenance therapy today -- a very long session of Rituxin, the antibody/immunotherapy.  They give him Benadryl to prevent reactions, but that kicks of restless leg syndrome, really bad. He's a bit tired, but no heavy side effects should come up.
Doing it again in two months.
We had some fun this past weekend in Florence, a one night trip to see a cousin's daughter star in "Chicago." Bright, shining star!

Pic of pic

The darkest spots are the most "metobolically active."  The shoulders and neck are from arthritis.  Next down is the heart, then the right and left kidneys, and finally the bladder.
The cancer spot is between the heart and left kidney, a grayish mass, smaller than the heart.
There is a measure of the "uptake value," to assess how much of the tracer was picked up in each area. 20 would be a number for an aggressive cancer; Mike's was about 5.

October 26, 2015: Good news from PET scan.

The doctor is very encouraged by the PET scan results; so are we!  In short, there is one mass, and it is less than half the size from eight months ago.  The mass is also less dense -- thinner texture, if you will.  I took a picture of the picture, and I will work really hard to get it loaded here.  

Mike will never get rid of all the cancer.  But he will undergo a maintenance routine of immunotherapy once every two months (for two years) to keep the disease at bay.  This type of lymphoma is known to transform to be aggressive within ten years -- Mike would be 78 then -- and the immnotherapy should extend his timeframe even longer.

The doctor is still concerned about his general weakness and low iron, so she is referring him back to the gastroenterologist for possible tests.  

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In other Mike news, he saw the dentist today and will return Thursday for a filling.  They had a very long discussion about implant (Mike is scheduled for one next week) and/or removable bridge and//or permanent bridge.  Wish me luck in getting him to a decision soon.

AND in a couple of days he sees the dermatologist to have some Halloween carving on his ear.  
To be scheduled: follow-up with general practitioner; next neurologist check-in.

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Gratitude: The PET scan results, of course! 

New doctor is great

Mike and I were both impressed with the new oncologist. 

She spent a lot of time with us.  

She put missing information into his record (really, his medications weren't in there!).  
She told us what she was thinking, with pros and cons, AND asked what we were thinking.  
She told us what vaccinations Mike should get (flu) and not get (shingles). AND why.
She even explained why his kidney function is now normal instead of stage three kidney disease.
The enlarged lymph nodes can either be left as "wait and watch", or Mike can have the anti-body treatment to more actively work on keeping them from growing. She is going to order a PET scan. The scan will "light up" any areas where the cancer is active. We expect Mike will take the anti-body treatment once every two months; the scan might indicate if something more aggressive is called for.
His white blood cell counts are back to normal, and she believes this means the treatments have cleared the cancer from the bone marrow. But Mike still feels weak, so he will get a blood test on two specific items. The doc said any fatigue from the chemo should have passed by now.

Gratitude: This has been a beautiful summer.  Even September has been nice, with a couple of much needed rain days. We enjoyed the blood moon eclipse together. 

Wednesday, September 2: Wait and Watch

Doctor said, "Your enlarged lymph nodes have not decreased.  I just don't know what to think about that. You seemed to have had more response when we had you in the hospital for that week of really hard chemo."

I asked him to explain just where the nodes were, confirming that two near the trachea were gone. They are in the abdomen and pelvis.  "One is 15 millimeters, we'd much rather see centimeters. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." His blood counts were just a little low still, but much better than six months ago.

Then the doc switched to, "So, are you going to watch my sabbatical?"

Me: "You're having a sabbatical?

"My run for Governor."  A little political talk, mostly felt like he was practicing his stump speech.  Then back to Mike with, "I'll see you in about a month." As he was charging out the door I stopped him, "Hey, can he have the PICC remove?"
"Yes, sure, we will do that right here."

We went to scheduling, got an appointment (switching to a different doctor in the practice), and Mike got the PICC out.

Next week we will get to see the old farts -- I mean good old friends from Mike's professional days!

Wait and watch.  I prefer live and love.

Sunday, August 30: Cast off

No, "cast off" does not mean we're going sailing.  Come to think of it, right about a year ago we did head out on a cruise to Alaska!

Mike got his cast off several days ago, so he's a happy sailor-man.

Then he visited the dermatologist's office, with a couple of biopsies and then a lot of freezing of bad spots (normal for him).  Not so happy.

Now we're just waiting until Wednesday to see the oncologist.

August 4: latest CT scan

Mike's CT scan (July 30) showed two lumps near the trachea "resolved," meaning they are gone.  Lumps near the pancreas head and in the abdomen, however, are unchanged.  Yuck. Ptooie.

Chemo was today, another tomorrow, and Mike will see the doctor in a month.