Wednesday 20 August 2008

Oh Crap! Bad News!

Well, I went in to see the consultant today. I was pretty anxious, as I've been noticing dodgy little symptoms, similar to what I had at first diagnosis. Shortly after going in he told me that the news wasn't good and that the scan showed that the tumour had been growing again. The bastard! Why can't it just die!
Anyway, this means it's plan B (sadly there are no plans C or D, so plan B better work!). This involves going into hospital (where I'm heading shortly), where I'll get a line put in (a tube in a vein) (which I'd been hoping to avoid). Then there will be a 3 day chemo infusion. This regimen is called RICE. My last one was CHOP-R. Then it's 3 weeks off, then back for another RICEing, then 3 weeks off. Then there is a scan. If the tumour has shrunk, it is on to step 2. If it hasn't then...oops, sorry, we're out of ideas. Bye. Don't like the sound of that much, so lets assume it works. Next is a loads of injects to get the body producing extra stem cells which can then be collected. In to hospital then for 4 days of hardcore chemo. This one will blast away my poor immune system and bone marrow that would regenerate it. Hopefully it will also nuke any remaining tumour. Then the previously collected cells are returned and they magically recreate a brand new shiny immune system. Hoorah. Apparently the success rate isn't amazing but it's not rubbish either, but I need to talk to the big man total specialist dude to get those details. So, the boring journey continues. Not sure when I can post again, as hospital beckons.

1 comment:

Chemo-Man said...

Hey Richard,

My boss’s wife went through the same thing you are going through; the first round of chemo doesn’t knock out the little tumor bastard so a heavy hitter is call in – stem cell replacement. That was over 10 years ago and she is doing well today. So stem cell replacement does work, and sometimes it works very well. Hang in there dude!