Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A visit with the doc

Yesterday I had my monthly appointment with my main oncologist, Dr. Claxton. Like usual, I had lots of butterflies and nearly made myself sick worrying about what he may or may not say. I knew he was going to talk about transplants and that made me extra anxious. So, my mom and I showed up and had a pretty productive and positive meeting. He was generally happy with how I was holding up physically and with the progress I am making on the clinical trial. I told him about some of the troubles I have had with this second course and he said that it was common and that I was doing pretty well all things considered. As far as a transplant, Dr. Claxton is not entirely comfortable with a non-related donor transplant in this case. He said that since I was able to attain remission on my last biopsy we should keep going with the clinical trial unless there is a setback. So, we will keep going with the chemo-only treatment and hope and pray that we can get this cured. So, for now, the transplant is off the table. The doc was a bit concerned with the loss of sensation I have been experiencing in my fingers and feet. I have been having tingling sensations and some loss of motor skills. So, we might be reducing the dosage of one of the drugs that has that side effect. Hopefully, this will help to restore some of the lost feeling. All is all, it was a positive meeting and helped to recharge me a bit and prepare me for all of the treatment still coming my way. Two and a half weeks left on the second course!! The finish line is in sight!!

Sorry for the dry post but I just wanted to get all of the info from this meeting out to everybody. I will meet with him in another 4 weeks......so I have a bit of time off before all that anxiousness kicks in again.

Hanna has been coming home for the weekends and for my chemo so that has been keeping me going. I'm real proud of her for taking on a new job and a new city through all of this other chaos. Her strength has been my rock. We had a great weekend last week and I'm ready for her to be back again. I mean, heck, we got ourselves a weddin' to plan ;)

I don't have any treatments until Saturday so I am off to get some rest and get work on staying healthy. Thanks for the love, support, and prayers. It lets me know that...

ALL will be well

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." -- Al Einstein

2 comments:

  1. Hi Danny.... I'm so glad to hear you have a few days off of treatment for some much needed rest! Also, happy to hear the transplant is off the table for now, but don't forget... you've got some first cousins and aunts who are all set for testing. Hooray - only 2 1/2 weeks left of this aggressive stage of treatment - you're almost there!!! I love you Dan and looking forward to yours and Hanna's big day!
    Love, Aunt Ronnie

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