The plan is coming together. I had my CT scan Monday and PET scan Tuesday. Next Thursday, November 3rd, I will see the lymphoma guru Dr. Zelenetz at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC and he’ll review the scans, bloodwork, etc and (hopefully) tell me everything is going to plan.
The next day I will have the Rituxin protocol at the MSK office next to Phelps. On Saturday the 5th I’ll be admitted to MSK in Manhattan for the first of three ICE chemotherapy protocols. I will be in for two and a half days, going home Monday afternoon. ICE has to be administered over three days, and cannot be done on an outpatient basis.
The ICE therapy will be repeated twice more, at two week intervals. For those I hope to go in on Friday and be discharged Sunday afternoon, which is a bit more convenient for me. That would also mean having the Rituxin protocol on the two Thursdays at Phelps. I didn’t know the Rituxin would be continued with the ICE protocol and it’s a bit inconvenient since it means I blow a morning getting the infusion. But Rituxin increases the efficacy of the chemotherapy, so it’s important.
It is now six days since my fourth RCHOP chemotherapy, and I am feeling a little mild fatigue. As with the first three sessions, the fatigue seems to set in from about the 6th to 10th days after the chemo infusion. I went to the gym this evening and cut back a tiny bit.
Over the next three days I have to do some traveling on business in the Tri-State area – New Jersey and Long Island – which, should not present a problem, even with the mild chemotherapy fatigue.
We rminded the boys that I’d be going into the hospital for some short stays, and it didn’t seem to bother them. They seem to have adjusted well to my therapy. Of course a lot of that is Brigid doing a good job with them!
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