Yesterday I walked on my own power from the 4th floor observation rooms to the 5th floor Oncology Infusion Services department.
When we got to the desk the friendly staff announced “you must be Tom Music!” My reputation (and my appointment) preceeded me.
They took me to my room, showed us where to find the snacks and …
July 22, 2009 – 9:25 am
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By Tom
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Posted in Treatment Phase
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Tagged adriamycin, cytoxan, dilaudid, dr norman, nurse ruth ann, oncology infusion services, prednisone, r-chop, rituximab, rituxin, vincristine
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I’ve finished my first round of chemotherapy! Heading home now. I’ll write in much more detail when I get home.
As long as I don’t vomit on my keyboard.
The pain from last night only got worse as I slept. I spent the night sitting up in bed, a position that didn’t hurt as much as others.
After waking up I had the pleasure of finding that all attempts to get out of bed were met with intense pain. Pain that motivated me to stay …
July 20, 2009 – 8:56 pm
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By Tom
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Posted in Diagnostic Phase
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Tagged chemotherapy, diaphragm, diffuse large b-cell, dilaudid, dr norman, lymphoma, lymphoplasmacytic, observation room, ondansetron, spleen
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We met in-person with Dr Norman to look at the slides from the PET scan that pointed out the neck lymph nodes. He was able to flip through the images to rotate my body lengthwise, giving us a view of the neck. It was really neat to see.
He warned us that the lymph node may …
July 6, 2009 – 4:41 pm
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By Tom
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Posted in Diagnostic Phase
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Tagged adriamycin, chemotherapy, chop, diffuse large b-cell lymphoma, dlbcl, dr norman, group health cooperative, lpl, lymph nodes, lymphoplamacytic lymphoma, muga, permanent remission, pet scan, r-chop, rituximab, seattle cancer care alliance, second opinion
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I got a call in the early morning from Dr Norman; the PET scan shows an abnormally sugar-hungry lymph node in my neck. He’s going to call and cancel my upcoming chest port installation surgery and find a surgeon that can do both the chest port installation and remove the lymph node in one session.
It …
Ok, that was really cool.
We drove to the Group Health Bellevue Medical Center nice and early; we didn’t want to risk missing the appointment for this test, since it seemed so tough to get scheduled.
Apparently the street address for the facility is so new that online mapping services provide a route that is completely wrong, …
We had our scheduled call with Dr Norman today to discuss the results of the blood tests, bone marrow biopsy, and CAT scan from last week. We’re getting close to knowing what I’ve got.
He says the evidence is pointing strongly toward lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma. It’s not an aggressive cancer, which is nice. But that very trait also …
I went in for my bone marrow biopsy today during lunchtime. First Dr Norman used a local anesthetic to dull all of the nerves that he could.
Then there was a bunch of stuff that would sound gruesome if I wrote it out; he took a little bit of bone marrow, a little bit of bone, …
Today we met with our Hematologist/Oncologist to get a preliminary evaluation of my situation. He checked all of my easily externally examinable lymph nodes, and didn’t find anything odd. I brought the blood test results, CAT scan images, and everything else I’ve got.
After looking at everything for a little while, he offered his current 80% …