Saba Beats Cancer

So that's what the doctor said when I asked about maybe cutting short that last methotrexate. The answer - they thought I would have had to delay by now with this much chemo. That what I am doing must be working because I am staying on track.  But no go on the shorting the MTX - gotta make damn sure the brain is safe and that is the toughest cancer to cure. So we need to get it out of there. But feeling pretty damn good that my daily routine is working.  I don't want to delay - I want this done in 27 days. I am checked in - have a pretty nice room layout - and ready to start chemo #5.  Once again chatted with others who are having a far worse time then me - so I will keep on rolling. This is the first time we went down and checked right in. Didn't get our dinner out before the check in - crazy.  So we have this one and two more chemos to go.  Yay!  Feeling good that we can get through it in style.

Back in the hospital.  So far this is the 4th chemo combined with 3 brain chemos - 7th stay in the hospital and so far 21 days in.  It's a lot. And the chemo builds in your system which makes it harder to handle as you get towards the end. First the great news - my central nervous system (brain and spine) is still very clear. They normally look at just the microscope  and can see some things but this time they did flow cytometry to really get the best look at the fluid in my spine and it shows no cancer cells.  This is a big deal.  With have the lymphoma running but we need to make sure the brain is clear to be cured and ensure no relapse. The nurse said "you are a pro at this now" and it seems I can claim pro status. Even with all the interruptions of getting the chemo started last night I got a solid nights sleep for the first time on this chemo run. So I wake up feeling good and get started on my daily work - get some real work done with my team and kee...

Woke up feeling good. Let Lee sleep in and took the pups for a walk which felt great. Blood work at noon so got my work in early with some emails and a few calls.  Overall felt good all day. Blood work all came back good - which means on track for chemo #4 on Monday. Odd thing how much the zarxio hits my blood work - it shoots it through the roof but it usually comes back down. So no more zarxio until Sunday so all the numbers come in on Monday.  Nice to hear. Got the magic mouthwash that is supposed to cure the mouth sores - it basically numbs the mouth which is a weird feeling.  But hopefully it will help heal as well. Most of them were healing and no new ones so I think we had moved past that. Met another lymphoma dude - he is done with chemo 4 and going to 5. He is 78 and looks amazing but 4 hit him a little harder.  He got an almost complete clear scan at 3 (not 2). Great guy and really upbeat -saw him walking as well.  So I think we know what works. ...

Just blah -not bad, not great but I will be out of here this morning.  I feel like such a whiner sometimes because I really am so ready to be out. Then I talk with a stem cell recipient supporter - they have been here two and a half weeks going through hell.  I have not right to complain at all. But I am ready to go. So final bags will get down around 2 then we have the final final bag for one hour and we are out of here!  Got a ton of sleep last night. That seems to be the trend - not enough sleep, nausea, then I finally just sleep like a rock for 11 hours (with the usual wake ups).  Then feel better.  Got my walk in and a Starbucks and some food finally.  Lost a little more weight. Still have a spinal scheduled for Monday but I don't think my blood will handle that. We have our next appt with Dr. Fowler to hear where we are set for Thursday.  Will be nice to do some high fives with him on the remission since he got us here. Did some work this...

Final 24 hours of chemo #3. Not too bad - some nausea but the worse part was the nausea med making me jittery so not much sleep last night. But no nausea. Oh well.  Tomorrow I am out! Just have to get through the next 24 hours which should not  be too bad.  Still up and walking and outside a little to get fresh air. Got a gift basket from Bill through Tiffany who is a pharmacist here - allowed me to create a festive fucker for the holiday. So I got that going for me. I forgot that I put them up there and was doing my walk and everyone kept smiling at me and nodding and I figured they were just extra friendly today - but it was the ears. Kind of Harvey like. A part of this is - the fucker is noisy 24 X 7. The flow of the meds clicks through and it can be rather annoying. When the nurses were doing my spinal on Monday and they closed the door and were draining the spinal fluid it is really quiet and the one nurse says: "wow - never realized they did that - that must...

Right before all this mess started, our company, Texas Teachers, sent a text blast to all our potential teachers we had in our data base urging them to get ready to teach, that schools needed them now.  We got the most random reply from someone in Texas -"Not today ISIS!!" It cracked me up on both levels - either the guy was serious or he wasn't. Either way, for a few weeks any time Lee asked if I wanted to do something, I replied, Not today ISIS. So getting attached to the fucker and all the drugs for Chemo #3 even though I am remission reminds me of that phrase. We can't let cancer get started again so as they turn on the annoying pumps and harsh drugs, I say - "Not today Cancer". So what's it like coming to the hospital Dave? Is it a model of efficiency that adheres to the tenets of getting lots of great nutrition, exercise and sleep. No - not at all. We got orders to the hospital at 4:00 and run down to try and get a room. We are told there w...

On the nausea front - just a hideous day - tried zolfram followed by composin but neither really worked.  Nurse says to try ginger ale and remember a guy on a forum saying it saved his butt and he actually wrote to the company telling him that ginger ale probably saved his life.  So, what the heck - sugar be damned - give me the ginger ale. And it worked.  Felt good in about an hour. So the combination of all the anti-nausea stuff works. Was finally able to eat.  Lee had brought my go to - a Trader Joe's crunchy no salt almond butter and raspberry sandwich on Dave's bread. So perfect for this occasion. Also, the timing of everything meant I actually got some good sleep last night - crazy. They came in to get blood at midnight and I was so out of it, I couldn't tell her my name and birth date when she asked. All the blood work came back good - so nothing there to hold up discharge. The nurse made sure they came at midnight instead of the usual 4:00 am so they coul...

Spinal tap came back negative - but the docs are puzzled - there should be something in there so they are going to run a more refined test to check. And we might as well still dump some chemo in your spine right now anyway because better safe than sorry.  They keep raining on my very little parades. I mean jeez - a little good news and they are like - meh - still pumping more chems in you. So second spinal test is done and the first good news in a while - spine is totally clean!!  So just weekly spinal methotrexate to keep the spine clear. And the chemo has started - lots of premeds to counter the side effects.  This is supposed to be the worse om the rituxan.  But half way through the bag and OK so far.  They have to take vitals every 15 minutes at the start so I am now glad I didn't last night. They are slowly upping the dose very 20 minutes until they max it out. Pretty nervous today about the unknown but just so relieved that we are finally started -...