Category: My lymphoma and related medical stuff

Yesterday, Tuesday December 6th, I met Dr. Kewalramani (henceforth to be referred to as Dr. K!) who will be the lead physician on the high dose chemo and autologous stem cell transplant which is the next and last step in my chemotherapy treatment. The MSK stem cell and bone marrow transplant service is evidently a…

It’s Monday morning and I got out of Sloan a week ago, last Monday evening. Things are going almost identically to how they went after RICE #1. Pretty fatigued three to five days after the chemo, and then gradually feeling better. I went to the gym yesterday in the late afternoon, rode the bike for…

Thursday and Friday were quiet days – the fatigue was in play! Did get to the gym this evening for a brief bike ride (14 minutes – just to warm up) and then did about 75% of my weights program. As always, felt good after the gym. Tim reminded me that he had to watch…

The fatigue pattern from RICE session #2 is very close to what it was for RICE #1. Here’s what I posted 72 hours after RICE #1 Tom Faranda’s Folly: Nap time. The pattern is very similar. This morning I worked out of the house for a couple of hours, and went to the office for…

So, I am finished my out-patient and in-patient chemotherapies – the preliminaries! Now I get to gear up for the “high dose chemo” with an autologous stem cell transplant. (By the way the word “autologous” is not in the microsoft word dictionary – I just had to add it.) See here for the logic of…

Well, probably not. Here’s the article – fair and balanced. this link may only be free for a week. If they ask you to register with the Times, it’s free and easy. Is There a Link Between Stress and Cancer? – New York Times Note – if you cannot access the article, leave a comment…

Well I am back home Monday night. Judy Anderson picked me up this evening. We left Sloan a few minutes to 6 and I was back home by 7 o’clock. About the only thing that varied from the first RICE session, was that I needed red blood cells. My hemoglobin was down to 7.1. Normal…

Well, as scheduled I am back for the second (and last) RICE  in-patient chemo. Took the train in, and then grabbed a taxi from Grand Central. I didn’t want anyone to drive me in, because I presumed traffic would be awful. But the reality was – traffic at least in the city was very light.…

Brigid and I met with Dr. Zelenetz at 9:30 this morning and he laid out the upcoming plan. My second and last RICE chemotherapy is this weekend. I will then be injecting myself with Filgrastin, a medication designed to “speed the recovery of white blood cells after chemotherapy has been given”. I will do that…

I got two bills today. One was for almost $22,000 from Memorial Sloan Kettering for my six day stay there. That was in July, for Nephrotic Syndrome. (Digression: this was caused by my lymphoma, and the triggering event for my current chemotherapy.) The letter with the three page bill said “your insurance carrier has paid…