January 13, 2013

Since you have accessed this blog you obviously have heard that my Leukemia has returned.  This was not unexpected and pretty much in line with the time table of 3-5 years the Medical Team at Mayo told me to expect.  So while I am thankful for the time I was disease free, I have to admit another couple of years would have been nice.

The most recent tests had the White Blood Cells at 28 (normal is in the 4-10 range) and there are several lymph nodes that have grown to 2 -3 times the normal size.

The plan is to start treatment the week of 1/21. The treatments will be for four days, with a Neulasta injection on day 5. The treatments will be a minimum of 6 times with 3 weeks off between treatments.

The drugs will be the same as last time, a cocktail of Flurdara, Cytoxan and Rituxan (FCR). Based on what I've learned about 90% of the people who reacted favorably to this cocktail initially, will have a favorable reaction the second time around. So let's hope I'm in that 90% group.

Looking back, I'm so very thankful for the last couple of years of remission. During this time I've been blessed with 2 beautiful grandchildren. Now I need to get by this newest obstacle so with Carol's help we can continue to spoil the heck out of them.

Carol will be updating the website as we tackle this next stage of this journey.