Round 2

Hi friends!

We're back in the hospital for round 2 of chemo. We got to the hospital at 10am yesterday for our first appointments and then had to wait until 9pm to get into a room. They had originally told us the room would be ready by about 3:30pm, so we were pretty frustrated with the long wait. On the plus side, we went out for dinner at a Thai/sushi place and got an unexpected date night. (Don't worry - no raw fish for me.)

During our long wait, we spent some time in the Healing Garden, a peaceful respite in Dana-Farber's main building.

Because my body responded well last time to the rituximab (the first chemo drug they give me), they were able to give it to me more quickly this time. They finished that one in 1.5 hours last night and then started the second cocktail at about 1:30am - the one that goes continuously for 96 hours. One reason we were hoping we could get into a room earlier was so that we wouldn't have to do the IV bag changes in the middle of every night. Oh well. Between a long day and night before and the Benadryl they gave me, they had a hard time waking me up when they had to change the IV drip!

Lastly, we got some good news during our pre-admission consult with my oncologist, Dr. Odejide...

By the way, she is fantastic. We really like her. Elijah even wanted to dress up as her for Halloween.

Our little monkey, pumpkin, and oncologist.

Anyways, two pieces of good news that we got/confirmed. First, she said they finally finished all of their pathological reviews and have firmly decided that this is for sure a Primary Mediastinal B-Cell Lymphoma, and NOT a "Double-Hit" Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, which doesn't respond well to treatment and has a poorer prognosis. We're glad to hear that!

The other piece of good news is that the early indications seem to be that the tumor is shrinking. As early as my last round of chemo, I've noticed that my original symptoms - persistent cough, difficulty swallowing, discomfort breathing deeply, heart palpitations, and chest pressure - have been practically gone. One possible reason for this (which seemed likely to me) is that the tumor has shrunk to a size where it is no longer putting pressure on my trachea, esophagus, lungs, heart, and ribs.

This seemed to be confirmed when I was at the emergency room last week. One unexpected benefit of being there was that, along with a myriad of other bacterial and viral tests, they did a chest x-ray to confirm I didn't have any pneumonia. This was first look inside my chest since starting chemo. (We weren't expecting any images until the PET scan after the 3rd treatment.) The radiologist's report indicated that the mass "appears less prominent", probably due to "interval decrease in mediastinal and right perihilar soft tissue, compared to 2 weeks earlier." (i.e. the tumor is smaller, probably because it shrank in the last 2 weeks.)

Still, we wanted to confirm with Dr. Odejide about whether this was meaningful or significant. She said that, while comparing x-rays to PET scans isn't perfect, it is noteworthy and, when combined with my decrease in symptoms, it does likely indicate that the chemo is having a positive effect when it comes to shrinking the tumor!

Please pray that this would continue and that each cycle of chemo will further decimate this tumor. The first round is said to have the most noticeable effect on the size, simply because there's more surface area for the chemo/cells to attack. However, we're praying that by the start of the 4th treatment, we'll see some serious shrinking of the tumor on the PET scan and that it will be completely gone by the end (and in the months and years after).

Like before, please pray with us during this round of chemo.

• I feel fine so far, but pray that continues.

• Pray for Kristen as she runs back and forth making sure both the kids and me are taken care of. Kristen's mom and sister will be splitting time up here while we're in the hospital. Friends have stepped in to help with meals, groceries, and childcare coverage when there's gaps or extra help needed.

• Don't forget to check the Lotsa Helping Hands site to see if there are any days down the road you can lighten Kristen's load by making a meal or buying groceries!

• Pray for our emotional and spiritual well-being during this, Pray we would be filled with hope and not fear the past, present, or the future, and that both Kristen and I (and the kids) would know God's presence every step along the way.

• Pray for the kids. They've been nervous about us being gone again, but we've done our best to prepare them. Pray they'll be filled with grace and patience during these tough times for them.

• Pray that the tumor will continue to shrink and, in the words of Gollum:

Thanks again for standing with us!