Normal 0 That’s the name of the chemotherapy the doctors are giving me. R-EPOCH. Each of those letters stands for a drug.
I went to the hospital April 1st to have my tonsils removed. Dr. Johnson told me one abnormally swollen tonsil could mean lymphoma, but that it wasn’t likely. Six days later, April 7th, I learned it did mean lymphoma in my case.
Since then, I have seen three doctors. I’ve also had a PET/CT scan, a MUGA scan, given a bone marrow sample (you haven’t lived until you’ve done this), had a piece of plastic inserted under the skin at the top of my chest, and given more blood samples in about three weeks than I gave the entire first 35 years of my life. Those tests all revealed encouraging news: it appeared my lymphoma had not spread.
The PET/CT scan showed some activity where my big tonsil used to be. It could be lymphosites, or it could be the healing process from my tonsilectomy three weeks prior.
I have what is officially claissified as “Unclassifiable Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma with characteristics of Burketts”. Both Diffuse Large B-cell and Burketts are aggressive non-Hodgkins lymphomas. So, the doctors do not want to take chances, despite no signs the cancer has spread. That means three months of chemotherapy for me, followed by radiation treatments.
I plan to update this blog often; daily, if I am up to it. It will not always be about cancer and chemo. But since it is a big part of my life right now, those subjects will surely come up frequently. So, I thought I would start by explaining.
I went to the hospital April 1st to have my tonsils removed. Dr. Johnson told me one abnormally swollen tonsil could mean lymphoma, but that it wasn’t likely. Six days later, April 7th, I learned it did mean lymphoma in my case.
Since then, I have seen three doctors. I’ve also had a PET/CT scan, a MUGA scan, given a bone marrow sample (you haven’t lived until you’ve done this), had a piece of plastic inserted under the skin at the top of my chest, and given more blood samples in about three weeks than I gave the entire first 35 years of my life. Those tests all revealed encouraging news: it appeared my lymphoma had not spread.
The PET/CT scan showed some activity where my big tonsil used to be. It could be lymphosites, or it could be the healing process from my tonsilectomy three weeks prior.
I have what is officially claissified as “Unclassifiable Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma with characteristics of Burketts”. Both Diffuse Large B-cell and Burketts are aggressive non-Hodgkins lymphomas. So, the doctors do not want to take chances, despite no signs the cancer has spread. That means three months of chemotherapy for me, followed by radiation treatments.
I plan to update this blog often; daily, if I am up to it. It will not always be about cancer and chemo. But since it is a big part of my life right now, those subjects will surely come up frequently. So, I thought I would start by explaining.
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