Welcome to my blog! Many of you have been with me on this journey since I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and then mantle cell lymphoma in 2015. Now that we've moved from a relatively passive stage to a more aggressive one, I've created this blog to keep you posted on my progress, but more importantly with the hope that this will be a more interactive venue where you can also keep me posted on your news too (if you care to share).
To recap where we're at: following 3 years of quarterly checkups with the oncologist, my last check in revealed that the lymphoma has progressed significantly and a 2-part treatment plan is necessary in order to achieve remission. Part 1 of the plan is a chemotherapy regimen where I will receive IV injections of a monoclonal antibody (rituximab) and a drug (bendamustine) over 2 days. This cycle gets repeated every 28 days for 6 cycles. Then part 2 of the treatment will be a stem cell transplant in Vancouver. The theory behind the transplant is that the chemo effectively kills both healthy and cancerous cells, so we will harvest some of my healthy cells and transplant them back in order to re-generate a healthy lymphatic system. More on this procedure in a later post.
On April 5 and 6 I had my first chemo cycle (or recliner session - a term I've shamelessly stolen from a friend of a friend who went through chemo) at the Comox hospital. The hospital is brand, spanking new and is about a 7 minute drive from our home. My first day of treatment was 7 hours in a recliner hooked up to an IV because they had to administer the drug slowly to make sure I could tolerate it. Apparently I did well, as the nurses told me that some patients have to return up to 3 times to complete this first session. Day 2 was easier, and treatment lasted only 3 hours. And yes, chemo sucks. I started to feel human again after day 8 and am thankful for the 20 or so days recovery period before the next session on May 3 and 4. I expect that the length of this recovery period will diminish as I go through more cycles.
In the meantime, I manage to walk the golf course out our back door on good weather days and visit the beach which is 10 minutes away. The island is very beautiful in the spring and a great place to commune with nature and recuperate. See you soon!