Fighting cancer is a dirty business!
Power-washing our stairs (is also nasty)
I had my third round of Rituximab and started my fourth round of Fludaribine yesterday.
Just prior to the infusion I had a look at my latest blood work taken the day before.
It was amazing! My (WBC) white blood cell count and absolute lymphocyte count (ABC) were almost within a percentage point of normal! I have not seen numbers like that in about 9 years.
Clearly my body is responding to the treatment by "cleaning up" those dirty or malignant cells.
There are some causalities though. My platelets, red blood cells and neutrophils are a little low.
That's to be expected and not dangerous. I have discussed this in last few posts.
I saw my specialist last week who conformed my progress and noticed that my spleen had returned to its normal size. A sober thought: CLL is incurable. I am expected to have a compete remission post FR which will last 2 - 5 years approximately. In other words the disease is expected to come back. When I was first diagnosed the only fall back position upon refractory (failed) chemo was a stem cell transplant: a highly risky procedure. Today Ibrutinib has been funded for secondary treatment of refractory CLL (I have discussed this drug in detail in previous posts.) Tomorrow who knows what other breakthrough treatments will be available. So don't be worried. I'm not!
Yesterday I had a very weird but not uncommon reaction to the Rituximab. I got really chilled and weak. It was over 24 degrees outside yet I was freezing! There will be a new form of Rituximab available this fall in Canada which will be administered by a 7 minute injection instead of the two hour infusion. I wonder if there will be similar side effects. Here's an article about it.
We went down to the legislature yesterday to welcome in the new government. Some of the members of the cabinet are friends. People were complaining how hot and stuffy it was. I had to leave as it was too crowned and I was too cold! I did not get to see many I knew but saw the new Premier John Horgan greeting many folks on the front steps personally. He has a very different style than the last Premier. It was a very exciting day though. By the evening my chills had diminished. Here are some pics.
Here we are in the crowd
Here's the new premier meeting the public
So until my next blog entry thanks for joining my ride and hopefully I continue to have a safe and great journey! Be sure to fill in your email address below if you want to be notified of updates.
