Sniffy The Rat

My Rat Connection.

Some of you might be saying "what's the deal with the rat connection?"  Well you may recall that part of my treatment is a monoclonal antibody called Rituximab which is derived from rat serum. After my last post I remembered that I do in fact have a connection to rats.

As a lawyer I once represented a famous one: Sniffy the Rat. I know what some of you may be thinking about lawyers representing rats. So stop it, right now!

Around 1990 an "artist" was planning to publicly execute a rat named Sniffy by dropping a large rock onto him whilst he was fixed to a canvas, thereby creating "art."

I was retained by an animal rights group to attempt to lay an anticipatory criminal charge against the artist to stop him from killing Sniffy.   For some reason I was met with a lot of resistance from the local Crown counsel in this process.

Here's some background:

I was not successful in convincing Crown counsel to lay a criminal charge as they did not take this situation seriously. However a great deal of publicity was generated. from this impending event.  So much so, that on the day of the proposed execution, a large crowded gathered chasing the artist , who was forced to take refuge in a hotel, thwarting the execution. Ultimately Sniffy was saved!

Here's a clip documenting the whole event.

So why am I telling you about this interesting piece of history? Well, could it be that I am not having any allergic or negative reaction to the Ritiximab (derived from rat serum) because that community remembers how I helped save one of their own?  Rats are clever, as we all know. Maybe it's just karma?  Either way I am very grateful to the rats for saving my life!

Round Three

Another few hours at the infusion room.

After 28 or so days of reprieve I was subjected to another double round of chemo on June 20th with my two friends: Flubaradine and Rituximab. It went well with the infusion of Rituximab and only took 2 hours this time but I find that the 100 mg of Benadryl along with the extra strength Tylenol are a bit much and leave me very groggy. Why all these extra drugs you might be wondering? Well the Rituximab  which is a monoclonal antibody  is made from a rat or mouse serum and many people have (understandably) an adverse allergic reaction to it. You see our bodies don't like serum from rodents entering them! Lucky for me,  to date it hasn't bothered me. I wonder why? Maybe because I have come in contact with so many rodents in all my years? Just kidding, of course.

On the same topic my pre-chemo blood work indicated that my WBC (white blood cell count) had fallen to an amazing 20.9 and my ALC ( absolute lymphocyte count)  to 17.91!  Those who know something about these markers might think: so what! The normal range for  WBC is 0-10 and ALC is 0-5.  However when I started treatment my ALC and WBC were just shy of 300 each!  So this is pretty incredible news.  As a refresher the disease exists in the B cells which are lymphocytes and generally in the white blood cells. The only negative is that my neutrophils and platelets are also falling. Neutrophils are responsible for defending against infections and platelets work to coagulate blood and prevent bruising. So if they drop much more I am to avoid babies, people with colds, routine dental cleaning and try not to injure myself. These are tall orders given how "normal people" live.

I have had a bit of fatigue and continued brain fog but otherwise I am doing OK. I'll try not to be paranoid about all those precautions and just keep on visualizing all those bad cells being popped off by the amazing drugs. So stop believing  all those posts on social media about how poisonous  chemo is and how it's all a conspiracy of big pharma. These drugs are ingenious and life savers!

So thanks for checking in again and I hope you keep following along the race of my life!

Taking a Break

Paddling off Yellow Point

Two weeks ago my lovely partner Monique and I went to our annual retreat at the magnificent Yellow Point lodge. It's beautiful, rustic and and very comfortable place. We have been going there twice a year for about 14 years now. So you get to see many of the same people and build close friendships with the regulars. At the same time we all get to witness each other aging and suffering through life's challenges: loss, death, sickness, children and retirement to name a few.

This was my first time at YPL in the middle of chemo treatment. At first I was a little apprehensive. "What will I say? Will people notice?" Everyone was very supportive and loving. In fact one of our regulars has MM (Multiple Myeloma) a more aggressive form of Leukemia and although he has been in remission for a year and a half now,  he will soon need treatment again. This put my little battle into perspective. MM is a very aggressive and nasty form of Lymphoid cancer.  Most treatments to date are not curative. Fortunately there are some amazing new treatments coming our way, even for MM.  One which is a cure, is called CAR T therapy.  It is the science of re-engineering our  killer T cells to do their job. That is the future of lymphoid cancer treatment and it was pioneered by amongst others Dr. Carl June.  

I spent most of my time at Yellow Point resting, sleeping, eating and enjoying great company and food. I am starting to really notice the effects of the chemo. My lymph nodes are shrinking dramatically. Previous to treatment my nodes were bulging under my chin, arm pits, neck etc. Now they are hardly noticeable. But I am feeling weaker and more easily fatigued. I am also suffering from a bit of "chemo brain" or brain fog.  What I have noticed is that there are days when things seem fuzzy and I difficulty thinking clearly. That's not good especially for someone like me who uses my brain a lot! I also wonder if the cumulative effects of the Flubaradine attacking my DNA or the Retuximab  triggering apoptosis (cell death) of my B cells are having all these symptoms and the positive results?  Probably both. It will be interesting to see what my next blood work will be like. Until then I have opted to stay off work indefinitely. Who needs the stress? I want to enjoy the Summer and spend time with family and friends.

Next week I will travel to Vancouver for the unveiling of my mother's memorial stone. She died at age 90 last July. The following week I am back on my next cycle of chemo. Stay tuned and in the meantime I am going to spread my wings!

Heron at Yellow Point