Finally a Break?

So, after a few phone calls (First the oncologist, then the hospital, then the pathology department at the hospital, then the oncologist again.), I found out that they finally had the results of the biopsy. The receptionist at Dr. Weeks office told me that they couldn't release the results to me until Dr. Weeks "signed off on them." She said she would pass them to him with a note on them classifying them as urgent. She told me should would call me back ASAP. Well, ASAP turned out to be about 90 seconds. Dr. Weeks wanted to see me for a couple minutes as soon as I could get down there. So, I left work and headed to his office. When I got there and he called me into an office, he had a big grin on his face. The biopsy indicated that it likely isn't Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and is instead is probably what is called a "gray zone lymphoma" - kind of a hybrid B-cell lymphoma. I'll spare everyone the techno-babble and say this: Dr. Weeks believes that this should be able to be treated with standard chemotherapy rather than a stem cell transplant. This is great news! If I can get better without a stem cell transplant, that is obviously a great deal. Dr. Weeks wants to discuss with Dr. Effie Petersdorf, the lymphoma specialist at the Seattle Cancer Care Center, this diagnosis, but he is confident that I will be able to avoid a transplant. He will contact me once he discusses with them.

Clearly this news completely changes what to expect this summer, and relieves a lot of stress from me and my family. The road is still a difficult one, but it looks like we will be able to get through this much, much easier.

A Whole Lotta Nothin...

Went to see Dr. Weeks today to meet and discuss the results of my biopsy. Had my blood work done. Weighed in (194! I've kept the weight off that I lost at the start of the year...). Blood pressure, pulse, temperature all good. All that, then they come in and tell me that the results of the biopsy aren't back yet. Kind of a waste of a morning, but whatever. Turns out they sent it to a center in California to be analyzed, rather than Seattle like we thought. They're going to call me next week when they receive the results. So we continue to wait...

I'm heading to Olympia this afternoon for the weekend. Melissa and I are celebrating our six month anniversary, and on Sunday we're going to my sister's house for my nephew's second birthday. I've got an appointment on Tuesday morning to meet with Dr. Cordero for him to check out the incision from the biopsy. It looks good - much better than last time!

Left Mediastinotomy #2

I finally had the biopsy on my chest done today. I was a little nervous heading into it, as this was the same procedure from last March that stuck me in the hospital for four days. Last time, I had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia, which caused my lungs to fill with fluid. I certainly didn't want to repeat that process.

Well, the procedure went flawlessly, and by the evening I was feeling good enough to go home, though they wanted to keep me in the hospital overnight for observation. I didn't argue too hard, as I knew I was feeling fine, and would go home in the morning.

Melissa and I watched game three of the Red Wings/Predators series in my hospital room. The Wings dominated the game, but had a couple of untimely defensive lapses that cost them the game. I am not really worried about the Wings at this point - they should be able to finish off this series fairly quickly - but we will have to tighten up if we want to make a run at The Cup.

Bad Timing

I was scheduled to have my biopsy on the mass in my chest today, but woke up overnight sick. I had a pretty high fever, and was throwing up, and certainly was not in position to have surgery, so it was postponed until Monday.

By the middle of the day, I was feeling much better. I'm not sure where that came from, or why I got so sick so suddenly, but whatever. I'll be just fine by Monday.

Consultation Day

So my mom, my new (well, new to the blog - it's been six months) girlfriend Melissa, and I met Dr. Robert Witherspoon at the Seattle Cancer Care Center (http://www.seattlecca.org/) in Downtown Seattle. He basically echoed everything that Dr. Weeks said, and spoke that the Stem Cell Transplant would be the best course of action. While he didn't tell us a ton that we didn't already know, it was great that everyone (Dr. Witherspoon, Dr. Weeks, and us) were all on the same page. We also got a tour of the facility. It is an absolutely beautiful building, and looks to be a very state-of-the-art facility. Overall, this calmed us down tremendously.

Dr. Witherspoon laid out a timeline of what we could expect. He requested a biopsy of the mass in my chest (the nodes in my neck were not large enough to biopsy), which would take a few weeks to get and analyze. After that, I would run through a couple rounds of chemotherapy here in the Tri-Cities before heading to Seattle to have some of my stem cells harvested. This would be around mid-May. After that, I would return home for a couple of weeks while everything was set up for the summer. Then I would return to Seattle in early-June to start the transplant process. I would likely spend the next 10-12 weeks there running through the transplant process. The actual transplant would be in mid-June, and the next 8-10 weeks would be recovery.

Overall, I feel great that there is a gameplan now. I've spent the last 7 weeks on pins and needles worrying about what is going to happen. I was basically sitting around knowing that I was "sick" but nothing was happening to get better. I spent the rest of the weekend with Melissa and her family in Surrey (suburb of Vancouver, BC). We had a great time, and it was nice to take my mind off of the whole situation for a couple of days.