Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Chemo Round #4 – January 17, 2012

We have had a busy few days medical-wise for Brian.  He is really starting to get “sick” of it all as he literally hates having to go for CT scans, blood work, seeing the oncologist, having chemo; it just seems never ending and it makes you feel old and feeble!  Brian, being the avid athlete that he is, not being able to exercise very much and not having much to do without his training and not working at the Running Room, and stuck at home with me,  it is now starting to catch up with him, I think.  But we do have to look on the positive side of things and feel fortunate that he still suffers few side effects from the chemo and can lead a relatively normal life. 

Unfortunately, Brian developed a cold last Thursday and he had a scheduled CT scan on Friday which we went to but by the time the day wore on, he was definitely not feeling very well and had a very barky phlegmy cough.  We just took it easy over the entire weekend, just so he could rest and he did start to feel better but still had the barky cough.  He went for blood work on Monday morning and then we saw the oncologist.  She asked us very direct questions about his cold and was thinking about delaying the chemo but then after listening to his chest, said that it was clear and that his cold was just a virus and since he was starting to feel better in that regard, she did allow him to go for the chemo yesterday. Unfortunately, she did not have the results of the CT scan yet, so we don’t really know how his lymphoma is responding to the chemo just yet other than the doctor palpating his liver and spleen and saying they are greatly reduced from when he first started with chemo.  She explained to us that she may elect to go 8 rounds of chemo depending on the CT results.  She said after 6 rounds she will do another CT and if his liver, spleen and/or any lymph nodes are still showing some disease, she will add on the extra 2 rounds. 

This was somewhat disappointing to hear as we are hoping that we could still get away to Florida for a couple of weeks in March but if Brian has to have the 2 extra rounds, that will probably not be possible but we don’t want to jump the gun yet, we will just have to see what the CT scan tells us and we are are praying that the lymphoma has melted away and 6 rounds is all that will be required before going on maintenance therapy.

Brian had his chemo yesterday and is feeling relatively well this morning. He had yet another doctor’s appointment this morning with the dermatologist which is an ongoing 3-6 month visit which stems from his itchy skin he was suffering which now we know was a result of having NHL.

On the house-front, Breanne called yesterday to say that she had taken a walk to see our condo and the first floor is complete and they are now working on the second floor loft area and maybe by the weekend, the roof will be on.   We will be taking a drive over sometime this week to get some more pictures and I will post them soon.  

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