{"id":4823,"date":"2005-11-30T14:32:47","date_gmt":"2005-11-30T14:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=4823"},"modified":"2025-09-24T00:29:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T00:29:58","slug":"followup_to_ric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=4823","title":{"rendered":"Follow-up to RICE #2 in-patient chemotherapy – and the future plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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So, I am finished my out-patient and in-patient chemotherapies \u2013 the preliminaries! Now I get to gear up for the \u201chigh dose chemo\u201d with an autologous stem cell transplant. (By the way the word \u201cautologous\u201d is not in the microsoft word dictionary \u2013 I just had to add it.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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See here for the logic of this course of therapy, why the transplant is needed, and how long I may be hospitalized.Tom Faranda’s Folly: Latest Meeting with the Lymphoma Guru<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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However \u2013 in the build-up here\u2019s what is happening:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I started today 14 days of injecting myself with an extremely expensive drug called Filgrastim (also called Neupogen) designed to \u201cmobilize stem cells from the bone marrow to allow them to be collected.\u201d  <\/span>The total cost for this medication is – sit down \u2013 over $8,000. And I am administering it to myself in three shots every morning. The insurance company should pick up the whole cost, minus a $40 co-pay.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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On December 6th <\/sup>I see the transplant Dr. Kew Alrmani, down at Memorial Sloan Kettering in Manhattan.<\/span><\/p>\n

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On the 7th<\/sup> I get a red blood cell booster shot at the MSK branch in Sleepy Hollow.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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On the 8th<\/sup> I\u2019ll have a \u201cstem cell collection\u201d starting at 8AM at MSK in Manhattan. Dr. Reich, who will do this, introduced herself to me as the \u201cVampire Dr.\u201d This takes about four hours \u2013 hope I don\u2019t have to go to the bathroom!<\/span><\/p>\n

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On the 12th<\/sup> I will have CT and PET scans, again at MSK in Manhattan.  I had been having the CT at Phelps and the PET at White Plains hospital but will have these at MSK, unfortunately starting at 4 in the afternoon, so that will be a late one. It\u2019s also Brigid\u2019s birthday!<\/span><\/p>\n

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On the 15th<\/sup> I will see the Lymphoma Guru, Dr. Zelenetz, who has been the primary guy through this whole thing, determining the course of therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I will probably need several more stem cell collection sessions, since it usually takes about three to get enough cells. (Not always; with luck just one session!)<\/span><\/p>\n

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When I weighed myself Monday night after returning from the 48 hour, two night stay at MSK, I weighed 166<\/span>1\/2<\/span>, up from 158 Saturday morning before I went in. It\u2019s all fluid from the chemo. Last night I went to the gym, felt good (20 minutes on the bike, good weight session and stretching) and my weight was already down by over three pounds. Of course, I\u2019d been up half the night running to the bathroom to wee. And ditto last night, so I am sure my weight will be down another 2 \u20133 pounds. The same thing happened after the first RICE in-patient session three weeks earlier. <\/span><\/p>\n

MSK gve me a bunch of "Patient Information Fact Cards" as well as four brochures to read. I am working my way through them but so far no surprises. I have been prepped really well by the physicians and staff. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, I am finished my out-patient and in-patient chemotherapies \u2013 the preliminaries! Now I get to gear up for the \u201chigh dose chemo\u201d with an autologous stem cell transplant. (By the way the word \u201cautologous\u201d is not in the microsoft word dictionary \u2013 I just had to add it.) See here for the logic of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-lymphoma-and-related-medical-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6556,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions\/6556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}