Roy Finishes Chemo

 

Friday morning, Annie drove me to the Keck Cancer Center in Newport Beach for an 8:00  appointment. The nurse drew my blood, via IV, for the usual test—called an "ANC," but involving 32 measures or counts, including Absolute Neutrophil (ANC), WBC, RBC, platelet, Hgb (hemoglobin), and so on. 

After about 5 minutes, the nurse showed me the results: the numbers looked "pretty good" all around, relatively speaking.

Over phone, the nurse briefly consulted with my oncologist, and he saw no problems sufficient to pause the chemo, and thus I commenced my last infusion, the sixth of six. 

The regimen for my lymphoma (stage 3 or 4, as I recall), is called R-CHOP. R-CHOP is an acronym for "a combination of three chemotherapy drugs given along with a monoclonal antibody and a steroid." My particular regimen, which normally separates infusions with a short, three week recovery period, was paused for some time owing to low blood numbers, especially platelets, RBC, and WBC, the three kinds of blood cells made by bone marrow. But we systematically worked through all that. (My doctor did acknowledge that such pauses reduce the efficacy of the regimen; still, he remained positive, since the process has seemed to be working, a judgment supported by a mid-regimen PET scan.) I got a couple of transfusions and an extra bone marrow biopsy along the way, and there've been several trips to the emergency room, including a visit just 13 days ago, owing to a critically low hemoglobin count (6.7). In general, however, my experience has been positive: the regimen has seemed to be working, and though I am profoundly fatigued and somewhat muddle-headed, I have grown increasingly chirpy.

Yes, chirpy. (No doubt chirpitude is side effect of muddle-headitude.)

Friday, no complications arose. I slept my way through most of the infusion. The process was completed by 2:30. "You're done," said the pretty, young nurse, smiling.

I smiled too. 

My last infusion done.

One of my early infusions, May?

UPDATE: [9-24]: This time around, the infusion has really kicked my ass—24 hours later. Let's just say I lost 7 pounds between early 9-23 and early 9-24. But, by Sunday mid-morning, nausea had largely subsided and fatigue has become the main issue, which is nothing new. Can still function, more or less, as long as I don't have to walk too far!

[9-25]: Feel pretty good, but still pretty fatigued. Managed a long convo with old Steve-O at the "Coffee Bean" on Alton. Lots to talk about. Lots of BS too.