Topsy Part II
As I expected, time marches quickly on, dominated by the saga and treatment of my cancer.
After the discovery of the tumor, I was kept in the hospital all of the month of February. There was continuous monitoring and seemingly endless extended tests and probes. I had scans;, CAT, PET and possibly other barn yard scans. Biopsies and vampire rivaling blood work. In my head I hear a version of "Alice's Restaurant" with Arlo makin' up the words as he goes along to my custom folk tumor story.
They determined that it was a stand alone tumor, Fibrous Lymphoma, Non Hodgkin's mass in the back of the abdominal cavity, not intruding, but wrapped around the Aorta, Vena Cava, and just behind but between my kidneys, definitely an unwanted visitor in the neighborhood.
Too near and mingled with vital organs to consider surgery.
So this led to a plan of chemotherapy, a five day plan, (CHOP+Rituxan) of intravenous and oral chemicals dumped into me; to be repeated every 3 weeks until the thing disappears.
All the analogies apply: Pac-man thingies eating up the tumor, search and destroy mission zapping the thing to smithereens, and ray guns shooting to just make it shrink back bit by bit until it is gone.
I did the first chemo session with seemingly good acceptance and not too much discomfort. The first session was in-hospital, but after three more days it was going so well they send me home with the hope that I would be OK on Morphine pills they let me take and wait for the next Chemo.
It Didn't work that way. My appetite had vanished (actually is a good thing - lost a lot o'weight) BUT: I got to feeling worse and had a fever and a cough all of a sudden, and yadda yadda, when I got admitted back to the hospital it was because despite countermeasures and testing to prevent this, my bone marrow decided that since it disliked being treated rudely, it would stop making white cells. In other words my entire immune system was wiped out.
I was the boy in the bubble. Until they pumped new antibiotics by the ton back into me over the next few days, I could and did catch anything around. Fever and pain yo-yoed for the first few days, and finally got stable and I pulled out of it, counts getting back above normal and pain under control.
So here I am waiting for the next round (out-patient) of chemo next Tuesday. I wonder what surprises each round will bring? But the plan is to be at home now.
The good news is the chemo looks like it is working to shrink the mass, though later news will tell better. My early PET scan results showed no spreading to other places Other news department, the last two nights showed strands, bunches and rows of somebody's hair on my pillow, my sheets, and anything that touched me. I can still run my fingers through my hair and come back with a handful. So the fun part is coming on. I have never tried the billiard ball look yet. Looks like I won't have to wait long. ~
