Vince's Journey

I had my follow-up meeting with Dr. Leming today and I now have a 'plan' that can shared with everyone. The PET scan from Monday confirmed that the lymph node identified with the CT scan a couple weeks ago is the only area of concern. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, had it not been for the node's proximity to my right kidney, the recommendation would have been to simply watch and wait...unfortunately with it so close to the ureter, we can't do that. The good news is Dr. Leming thinks we can knock it back down with a mix of steroids, rituxin and bendamustine and if all goes well I can get the stent removed within the next 3 to 4 weeks. The plan is to start with a 4 day blast of an oral steroid which I can't recall the name of. I'll start this tomorrow morning. The biggest side effect for the steroids will be a continuous feeling of edginess but that should subside a few days following the last dose. On Monday I'll go in for a rituxin treatment...this will be a long day as the first infusion generally takes 5 to 6 hours; they need to make sure I don't have an allergic reaction since it's been a few years since I was last exposed to this drug. (FYI - I did have reactions the first 2 times I had rituxin so they'll take it slow and be ready with the benadryl at the first sign of any hives or rash.) On Tuesday I'll go in for a much shorter treatment of bendamustine - this should only take an hour or two. The following week we'll repeat the process (without the steroids) and then we'll do a sonogram to make sure everything is working. If it is, we'll stay the course for a couple more weeks and then back off for a few monthly maintenance treatments of rituxin. (We'll also get rid of this stent!) I've been through this process before (minus the stent) and trust me, this is the best possible scenario. The treatments aren't overly harsh and I should be able to do pretty much what I want while being treated. Had I needed to go the cytoxin route it may have been a different story. So at least we now have a plan. I'm a little surprised that we're jumping right in to this tomorrow but obviously the sooner we start, the sooner it will be over. As long as there are no complications this should all be behind me in a few months. It's highly possible the treatments will be over before the renovation of our master bathroom (which began the third week of January) is completed! And with the NCAA basketball tournament just around the corner, there will be plenty of diversions to take my mind off the frequent trips to the chemo parlor. Speaking of the basketball tournament, I'm starting to get excited about Ohio State's prospects. Since their horrible game at Wisconsin a few weeks ago, the Buckeyes have been playing great basketball and with the win over Indiana last night, they have a great chance for a 4th straight Big Ten title. I don't enjoy cheering for Michigan in anything but if it means Ohio State can stake claim to a conference championship, I'll grudgingly do it. Last night we had a fairly heavy snow storm which knocked out our satellite dish for a few hours so I didn't get to watch the game live. The satellite feed came back on about 2 AM and luckily ESPNU was running the game replay so during my frequent trips to the bathroom (again, DAMN STENT) I was able to catch most of the second half. I would have rather been sleeping but I did enjoy watching the Buckeyes ruin IU's Senior Night! Let's hope Illinois doesn't do the same thing to OSU's seniors on Sunday afternoon. Tonight is Xavier's senior night - beating St. Louis will be a tall order. The Muskies have had a rough year but through it all they've stayed together as a team - it would be so nice to see our seniors end their home careers with a win over the first place team in the A-10...perhaps that could build some momentum for the upcoming conference tournament. I've been at Xavier 14 years and I think the Musketeers have only missed making the NCAA 3 times in that stretch - I can tell you it's far more pleasant talking with alums and donors when the basketball team is doing well...obviously the recent basketball conversations have been a tad low key! A win tonight might be a kick start to a nice run at the end of the season! That will do it for now - as always thanks for checking in. It's nice to have a plan in place and my goal is to successfully execute this plan over the next several weeks. Bring on the steroids!! I will keep you posted!!!