When the rubber meets the road

 After leaving the oncologist today, having met with PA Cassie Duarte and Dr. Haverkos, here is what I sent out to those I'd asked to pray, "Even for NED (no evidence of disease). "We are praising God for all things good in this world, including "full metabolic response." Well. We asked boldly and God heard our prayers. I have had t-cell lymphoma for 7.5 years. I was unable to tolerate 3 targeted drugs I’ve tried over time and the clinical trial I participated didn’t work at all for me. But today I heard the words “Full metabolic response” when describing how the 1st 3 rounds of chemo therapy with an immunotherapy drug have worked so far. That means they can’t see any cancer in the PET scan. I will still need 3 more rounds of chemo/immunotherapy. The statistics say a subsequent bone marrow transplant would give a 50% chance of long term cure. If I don’t do the transplant, they quote an 80% chance of relapse. Thank you for praying and caring so well for me. As he...

 Labor Day Monday, we went to the ER after a week of reoccurring UTI discomfort. Sometimes I felt I was getting a hold of it with D-Mannose, over the counter products like AZO, cranberry juice. and good-ole' Shaklee Alfalfa. I would take Advil occasionally. The week before, I knew I had an infection but by the time I got in to be tested, I had cleared it with all the measures I know.  So how many times do I go back? Keep in mind, I had just finished my 3rd antibiotic. It is scary to think I have an infection with chemo. I haven't really traveled this way before. When I was explaining what's been going on to the ER doc, I was so out of breath that you would have thought I'd just run there. I told him I had no idea why I was having such a hard time talking. They took lots of blood tests and shocked me when the doc poked in his head to tell me I was being admitted. For a UTI?!? It turns out, they tagged me as septic. The shortness of breath and a white blood cell count of ...