Saba Beats Cancer

Not even kidding.  Below are the scans. The one on the left is me riddled with cancer in February -the one on the right is  me today in comp lete remission. This doesn't mean I am cured - it just means that after two cycles of treatment we saw " a diminution of the seriousness or intensity of disease or pain; a temporary recovery."   So now we go for the cure. Note - there is nothing going on in the brain (joke intended), nothing going on in the spine and nothing going on in the lymph nodes.  Yes, we have no cancer.  Even the doc was a little surprised at how well my body responded to the treatment.  For all those who worked so hard to keep my spirits up - it worked. To the prayer warriors around the country who kept lifting us up in your prayers - it worked.  Team Saba has a huge victory today and we thank you all.  We are still going in for Chemo #3 but it got delayed since my body has not fully recovered from all the other crap t...

Getting scans today. Got the MRI yesterday. Blood work this morning. PET scan this PM - will post when I get them. Best case - really knocked the cancer out - worst case which I hear every day is it popped up somewhere else. So think good thoughts all my amazing supporter - I will post immediately after.

Well sort - of - my MTX level is 0.07 which is of course below the 0.1 level so I can get out of here. It's all down to the paperwork now.  Just have to wait for them to find a doctor to write a discharge note and then they have to give me my self-care directions. But I am packed and ready to go. Lee is here and we just play the waiting game - which is always kind of funny because they need the beds so bad you think they would have a team of pushers getting us out the door. Looking at the timeline - going sumo definitely helped.  We are out of here a little faster so I will take it. Never going to get the 48 hour turn around it seems but at least we did better on the drugs this time. So a few days off. The good thing is they can look at my blood work on this fine Monday which my docs like. And the blood is looking mighty fine right now. So this starts the big week: MRI is Wednesday - looking at the skull - is it healing?  PET scan -the biggy - Thursday morning...

So - finished big chemo #2 - which makes me 1/3rd of the way done.  A little less nausea - tired - but otherwise just glad to be home with Lee and the pups. It is rather humorous when we leave the hospital because Lee cannot keep up with how fast I am walking to get the hell out of there.  After 5 days it is all I can do to get out of there as fast as humanly possible. But staying positive - 2 out of six complete and on schedule.  PET scan is scheduled for just after the third chemo which would be the 12th of April. And to keep the pressure on the cancer - we have a spinal set for Monday and brain chemo (3-4 days in hospital) next Friday. Damn. But - today and the rest of the week I am home and will get to do some work and get some fresh air and rest without someone checking my vital signs.  And I can walk slower so Lee can keep up.

Well I wanted to get started and I get my wish. Problem is I have double hit large B cell lymphoma. Cells are mutating making them grow faster and harder to kill. Luckily NIH found the R EPOCH therapy regimen and got similar outcomes to regular lymphoma. The bad news is you get each chemo session over 5 days in the hospital every 21 days. Plus they may add another drug in between. Aggressive cancer equals aggressive treatment. The double hit describes the two mutations that are happening. (and yes double secret probation immediately flashed into my mind). You don't find that until a few days after the biopsy so this was a late breaking update to my diagnosis.  Quite the gut punch - but we kind of knew things were growing pretty fast. Not totally unexpected So a really really rough road ahead. But these guys got it down and they love our chances of kicking this just as hard as it’s kicking me.  I cannot tell you how great our team at MD Anderson was today - our doctor is pr...