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Mom had her first post-chemo follow-up with the oncologist this morning. We don't yet have the blood test results, but the doctor felt under her armpits for the obvious lymph nodes he found on his first visit (two weeks ago).
It seems hard to believe, but he didn't feel them today. I even hesitate to report this, fearful it could put us on a roller-coaster. But we will TAKE it with a happy heart.
Question from the audience was: How many treatments will she have, and what time frame?
Treatments will be every two to three weeks. The usual spread is three weeks, but she is getting "mini-CHOP" (smaller dose) and the oncologist could put them closer together. He will watch how she is doing and how the blood tests look. A patient usually receives six treatments.
Please get your flu shot. Not only to protect yourself:
If you are going to be visiting Mom, PLEASE get vaccinated. She is immune-compromised, and she can't get the protection.
Please, please, protect yourself and Mom.
I have masks here!!!
Fun visits yesterday from Rhonda, Judy, Missy, Rhea. Mom was too out to remember, but we took pictures as evidence. Missy nearly had me ROFL.
Chemo went well without immediate effects. Still sleepy this morning, but Mom perked up quite a bit this afternoon.
All the lines are out, except for the port access, no fluids running. The on-call weekend kidney doctor seemed to think she could go home at any time. So perhaps tomorrow. I'll need to do some grocery shopping!
Now I'm off to catch Max to Orenco Station.
Chemo's running. Well, technically, the immunotherapy Rituxan is an anti-body. She had a bunch of pre-meds to prevent side effects so she's pretty sleepy. The real chemicals will come next.
Tomorrow she will get an injection of Nulasta to support white cells. They want to watch her, and said MONDAY will probably be when she goes home.
We got confirmation of what we already knew: Mom has lymphoma. The type is large (or diffuse) B-cell. It is an aggressive lymphoma but also is treatable.
The treatment will be "CHOP," where each letter is a certain chemical. The "P" is prednisone,which she started on Tuesday. I think the round of chemo will be tomorrow and she will go home Saturday. The doctor is starting with about a two-thirds dose to have less stress on the kidneys, and can increase in the next round if it seems safe.
Chemo will be every three weeks, and progress is monitored primarily through blood tests.
With the treatment, the doctor (who is wonderful) is guessing a 35% chance of full remission, but most likely suppression of the lymphoma with an improvement in her quality of life, and with more time to do some things, and see people, which are important to her. (If she did not have treatment, she would only have a couple of months to live.)
We talked a lot, and will talk more in the morning, about side affects and how those side affects are either prevented or treated.
More later, but I needed to get this posted.
