Hi ya'll. You probably did not notice that I dropped out of the list for some time - about 7 months. If you remember, I last left the list after announcing that I was diagnosed with Cancer, and was starting treatment. Well I am glad to say that THAT'S over with. It was tough, and if anyone has gone though it, you know what I mean.
So now I am back, feeling better, and a bit more fiendish. So for those that are a bit curious about my treatment I will give the gory details: 1 surgery to remove a lymph node 8 treatments, 3 weeks apart 3 full-body CT scans (equivalent to about 300 x-rays each) 2 bone-marrow biopsies (if you have ever been punched in the kidneys, you now know what it feels like.) 1 hospital stay 4 days 2 trips to the emergency room to treat complications from the surgery. Cytoxin(200mg) A form of Nitrogen Mustard, an alkylating agent designed to damage DNA, thereby causing cell death to dividing cells. Nitrogen Mustard was developed in the early 30's as a potential chemical warfare agent - now used as a chemotherapy agent. Vincristine (1-2 mg) Made from Periwinkle, a poisonous plan with the primary component of Vinca alkaloids. A microtubule inhibitor to sabotage mitosis in process, causing cell death. Side effects include neuropathy (numbness in the hands and feet). This also put me in the hospital for 4 days because my small intestines stopped working for a while. Prednesdone (100mg). A cortical steroid commonly used as an anti-inflammatory and at high doses, it destroys B-cells causing immunosuppression. Can cause withdrawal, as the adrenal glands shut down with the high doses. The first 2 drugs are delivered through an IV and the steroid is in pill form. It took about 3 hours to get the drugs in. The drugs are prepared in a vented and shielded chemical lab chamber. Additionally, I was given a new drug called Aloxi, for nausea ($800 bucks a dose!) Chemotherapy has changed a lot in the last few years. I experienced no vomiting, and lost little hair. The biggest side effects were low-grade nausea, fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, and depression. Most all of the side effects are gone now. There was also an unexpected side effect - anticipatory nausea. When ever I think about the chemo, I get nauseas. The other day, a nurse wheeled in a IV pole into the exam room during my bone marrow biopsy, and the sight of it made me sick. I also get sick when ever I see my nurse that delivered the chemo. I feel bad about that, but it is uncontrollable. The last few treatments, I started getting sick before I actually got treatment. I am now in what is called a complete response state, meaning that I have responded completely to the treatment and have little if any evidence of disease. However, Indolent Follicular Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma is currently not curable, but it can be controlled for years or even decades. The disease will come back, with a mean time of 14 months to recurrence. In April, if all goes well, I will be starting a clinical trial. A double blind study to measure survivability with a treatment of a customized vaccine. I say customized, because it is a vaccine for one - me. They took a lymph node from my groin, froze it, and sent it to a company called Genitope (www.genitope.com) in California. If I do actually get a vaccine instead of a placebo, this vaccine will be customized as an agent that will contain the same protein receptors my cancer cells uniquely express. It will be bound to a some foreign animal protein. The thought is that my immune system will generate a immune response to the vaccine, and in the process, will trick my immune system into thinking the cancer cells are not-self. For those in the past who have had this Idiotype Vaccine that got this response, most are still in remission, possibly for life. Time will tell. Anyway, I don't expect to die soon, with the average median survival rate for someone my age is 70% at 10 years. Since the Vaccine is very new, it is not known how or if it affects survivability. Anyway, for the meantime, I will send scouted articles of some of the bleeding edge cancer research to the group, since I am very much interested in the subject (for natural reasons). Anyway... I'm back. God save you all! Nerd From Hell _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
