Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. What a name...BLOG. Sounds like a visit to the toilet. As described, I will write up my progress in the fight against NHL. In November, 2005, my oncologist suggested I visit a surgeon about a lump that had been growing slowly on my neck, just below my jaw, since about the first of this year. Two PET/CT scans showed no activity (meaning cancer cells) in that area, so the primary suspect was that the lump was a swollen gland of some kind or a cyst. Necks are full of glands and nodes, including lymph nodes. The surgeon poked around and thought the lump was a clogged salivary gland. He ordered a needle biopsy to see for sure what it is. A few days later I had the biopsy which involved jamming a little needle in my neck several times. I think the pathologist enjoys sticking a needle in peoples necks because she kept poking and stabbing. She expected to pull fluid from it, but no fluid. Instead, she got a bit of tissue and put it under the microscope. I got to look at the slide of the tissue she pulled out. She pointed out what was what, and the "what" turned out to be anything but salivary gland tissue. She called them lymphocytes. That didn't sound good. She sent the samples off to a lab for further study. The test results showed that the tissue contained lymphoma cells. That dirty bastard came back! So, another PET/CT scan and it showed activity in that area, but the needle biopsy would also cause that area to "light up" from the tissue damage. That result was not necessarily conclusive, but the biopsy analysis was pretty convincing.

Dr. Ikeguchi, my oncologist, sent me back to Dr. Selby at OU Medical Center. Dr. Selby took care of my stem cell transplant 3 years earlier. We discussed my health to date since the SCT, including the dilated cardio-myopathy (heart damage) probably caused by the prior chemo treatments. He said that the most likely treatment will be radioimmunotherapy. That involves infusion of a monoclonal antibody (Rituxan, probably) that is combined with a radioactive isotope. Bexxar and Zevalin are the two name brands of that drug. Another possibility is localized radiation at the site of the lump. Another potential treatment, and not my favorite, is another SCT, but this time using donor stem cells rather than my own like we did 3 years ago. I'll go into more detail later on the treatment when I know which way we go.

In the meantime, I had a bone marrow biopsy last Monday and a CT (not to be confused with a PET/CT, that's different) scan today. A bone marrow biopsy can best be described as a form of medieval torture where the doctor drills a hole in my hip and tries to pull my toes out through that little hole. Or, it feels like someone installing a manhole cover on your backside. Seriously, it's not pleasant. The results came back today showing no cancer cells in the marrow. That's good news! That means Dr. Selby will probably go with the radioimmunotherapy treatment, which is not as big of a drag as the alternatives. The CT scan was for the purpose of looking at an area near my left rib cage that showed slight activity in the PET scan. The odds are that the image showing up is scar tissue from prior tumors in the same general area. Selby ordered the CT to see if there might be anything else going on that he needs to be aware of. We won't know the results of the CT until Thursday 12/11 when I have my next appointment with Selby. On the same day, I have a consultation visit with Dr. Thompson, a radiation oncologist at OU Med. Ctr., to discuss what's involved with radiation treatment (including radioimmunotherapy).

There you have it. That's all I know right now. I'll post more as I get more details. Feel free to ask questions. I'll try to remember to visit this site daily and respond.