Round Two

Driving over from the Diagnostic Center I arrived at my Oncologist office. My girlfriend met me there as she wanted to hear the news.  I checked in at the front and they walked us back to a room.  We waited in the suite for Doctor “S” to come in. Then the door opened and my doctor entered the room. 

By now, he knew that I was the type of patient that was proactive in my own health care. Although  I’m sure he knew I had already read the reports he proceeded to explain to me and my girlfriend that the treatment had failed and I still had the lymphoma. (I will tell you in a future blog what my new doctor told me about the treatments and why they did not work). Now the doctor never really needed to look at the actual CT Scan films, he only needed to read the reports. I had brought  the films in with me and asked if we could look at them again. He held up a couple of the films, they are approximately 24” wide by 18” tall. We looked at them and he showed me spots on the film, my lymphoma. My girlfreind, who was African American, turned pale as her jaw fell open and she looked at me in disbelief. Dr. "S" had a discussion with my girlfriend and me about how we could proceed. He gave me two options, Option #1 –Close observation. That meant, let’s do nothing and just wait and see what happens. He had already given me that option once before when I first saw him. To me what he said was you’re going to die anyway so what’s the point. Then he gave me Option #2 – Trial of chemotherapy with Fludara for a period of 5 months.

My Dad had been in town to see how I was getting along. He did not like Florida because it was too hot, but his visit was during the cool time of the year and he had returned home. My girlfriend was with me now, but to be honest with you, it was really my decision either way. It’s always good to listen to every ones opinion, but the decision really comes down to the person with the illness. I chose to try Fludara (in a future blog I will also tell you what my new doctor told me about Fludara).

Fludarabine (Fludara) is a type of chemotherapy that is used to treat Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), which is a cousin to what I have. Some of the possible side effects from the drug included:  severe suppression of the bone marrow function, instances of life-threatening and sometimes fatal autoimmune illnesses, hemophilia (a bleeding disorder), fatal pulmonary toxicity (lung poisoning), severe central nervous system toxicity, including coma, seizures, agitation and confusion, and more.

Life is always a gamble, a choice that one has to make. The prescribed dose for this chemo was to receive treatment 5 days in a row, once a week, every three weeks. That meant I would receive 30 doses of Fludara. My girlfriend and I left the doctors office and walked to our cars, we both got into our cars and drove off. Monday I would start my new round of treatments.

Next time, Round 2……………………