So the last cycle is over as well.
This last one, eighth cycle, proved to be a little tougher than the other baseline BEACOPP cycles. I had some fevers along with cough and flu so I spent days 13, 14 and 15th in the hospital. They gave me some IV anti biotics and sent me home with some tablets. I have no fevers since and flu is also settling down.
I now have a PET scan scheduled in July and a meeting with my doctor a few days after the scan. Let us hope for the best!
Nothing much to write here today which means all good. I have been good in the fifth cycle so far as it looks like it does not effect me like the previous 4 escalated BEACOPP cycles. No signs of nausea and no mouth problems at all. Pretty good as compared to the previous cycles. Another difference was that my WBC are not dropping much as well. They were still 4.2 on day 8 when they used to be around 1.5 previously. The HB still seems to be an issue.
So I have been put to baseline BEACOPP after a good scan at the end of my 4th cycle. The first four cycles were escalated BEACOPP and were more severe. I still go three days in the first week and then the 8th day, the drugs on 8th day are still the same, but the drugs on first three days are now reduced, almost half. Etoposide is still administered over an hour, although at a half dosage. All oral tablets and anti nausea is still the same.
I will see on Monday whether I still need neulasta or not.
A good news in a while, I had a PET scan this Friday morning and got the results later in the day. I had a meeting with my primary oncologist which gave me a copy of the result. I had a good response to the treatment so far and there is no evidence of disease in me.
I am in remission! Let us hope it remains this way.
The forth cycle is almost over. And as I was feeling at the end of the previous cycle, it is the best so far. I have not felt anything wrong in this cycle so far but I have received blood transfusion on the 8th day because my HB was too low.
The good news is that I did not have to go to the hospital in this cycle. This was the only cycle so far when I did not have to go to the emergency. The WCC is also back because I was feeling pain in my back this morning. This pain indicates that my bone marrow is working and producing WC. The pain happens only if you have taken neulasta/neupogen etc. which I take on day 9 of every cycle. Now I will go for a blood test on Monday, hopefully everything will be alright. A PET scan is due now.
And I have started to work full time, I work from home when I don’t feel good.
The third cycle is now complete and so far this was the best cycle. I did not have to admit to the hospital though I went to the emergency with some pain in my mouth but I was not feeling any temperature. So they just gave me some pain killers and sent me home. The pain went away after a few days.
The other news is that I have started working again. I am going to the office when I am feeling good and when my WCC is up and plan to work from home when they are down.
I am into my 4th cycle now and the first three treatments are done. I am due for a PET scan after this cycle and hopefully I will be downgraded to baseline BEACOPP after that.
The second cycle is complete as well. I have not posted anything for sometime because there was nothing to post.
The second cycle was overall better than the first one. I still had to go to the hospital in the middle of the cycle and stay there for 3 days because I had some temperature. I have been told to come to the hospital whenever I feel temperature of 38 degrees. That Sunday I checked my temperature, it was 38 and increasing. I went to the emergency and they admitted me because my white cell count was too low. I was discharged the next Wednesday when my white cell counts came back.
The have started to use my port as well. It was actually very comfortable to have a needle and still having both of your hands free.
The other thing is that the doctor has seen my chest X-Ray and she is happy to see the mass reducing in my chest. I had a chest X-ray back in December when I was admitted in my first cycle. I had another X-ray when I was admitted in the second cycle. She compared both of the X-rays and also showed it to me. The mass in the chest is reducing don’t know how malignant it is now.
I have started the third cycle now, a little early because of the Australia day public holiday.
So I have got a port installed now which will be used for all IV drugs from now on. Currently I have got a dressing on it which will be removed when my stitches heal.
The process was pretty smooth. They started the process at 9 in the morning as scheduled. The doctor explained to me what a port is and how it will be used and then I signed a consent form. After laying down sometime on the bed I was taken inside the radiology room where they had everything setup and ready. ECG was attached and an Oxygen mask was put on my face. The doctor did some ultra sound to find the exact place where they wanted to put the port in. After that I felt asleep and don’t know what happened.
They woke me up after about an hour when the procedure had finished, did a chest x-ray to make sure everything is fine and then took me back to the ward. I wasn’t feeling any pain. I stayed in the bed for another half hour and had some sandwiches because I had not eaten anything since 5 am.
At around 11:30 I was moved to the chemotherapy section for the 3rd day of the cycle where I was injected with more etoposide through my new port. The nurse then took the needle out of the port because I need it on day 8 only and there is no point letting the needle in for so many days for no reason.
Its been over 36 hours now since I have got the port but no pain so far.
I was in for the second day of chemo today. Today only etoposide was scheduled but still it was a busy day. The staff was busy so had to wait a little in the waiting area and then I had to wait for the medicine as well. I have started to feel the same symptoms again as in the first cycle. The hands and feet are a little swollen but that is because of the steroids I am taking. They got well sometime in the second week last time so I am not much worried about it. The hair are falling rapidly. Stomach is alright so far. I plan to eat less spices, more rice, light food and more water this time.
Another development today is that I received a call from my chemotherapy nurse today and she has scheduled a port installation procedure tomorrow for me. She is of the opinion that since I am getting 3 continuous days of chemo and then again on day 8 of every cycle I might hurt my veins in the arms. So I discussed everything with her today and I am scheduled for 8 am tomorrow. I will reach there early and have a blood test. The results will take 45 minutes to process. Then I will move to the radiology department where a radiologist will install a port near my chest under the skin. It will be a big vein so it won’t hurt like the ones in the arms and I won’t have to get a canulla every time I get chemotherapy.
They will give me local anesthesia and some IV drugs to sleep but not general anesthesia. I will sleep for about one and a half hour during this process while the doctors do their job. After that I will move back to the chemotherapy section where I will have my third day of chemo, just etoposide. I have been told that I might get a little pain after the effect of local anesthesia fades out so I should keep panadol/panadine handy.
Watch for tomorrow!
So I am in the second cycle now.
I went to the hospital today for chemotherapy and according to the protocol was injected Doxorubicin, Etoposide and Cyclophosphamide. Also a bag of medicine was handed over to me to take at home including Procarbazine and Prednisolone which I started from today.
Feeling pretty much alright will go in for the second day tomorrow. It is just Etoposide tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Let us hope my stomach stays well this cycle.
lymphomainsydney 