Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 13
Hi again!
I've been receiving a lot of anxious emails regarding my biopsy results and how I've been since it's been over a week since I've last done an update. I apologize, there hasn't been much going on and my results did not come back as soon as they had expected. Here's the latest news...
I've been feeling relatively good, this weekend I actually was able to get out a little bit which was very nice for a change. Unfortunately, Sunday I spent a little too much time in the sun so when I went in for my visit on Monday I got the scolding of my life by my doctor. I guess my face was slightly sunburned and he noticed immediately and was very disappointed in me since I'm to stay AWAY from the sun at all times. Being exposed to the sun can cause Graft vs Host Disease of the skin, which is not something they want me to be dealing with at this point. It also caused my fevers to return (although not as high) so he wasn't very pleased about that. I've had a rash on my skin now for over 2 weeks which they thought was an allergic reaction to some antibiotics that I was on, however after Sunday's sun adventure they're concerned that it's now Graft vs Host Disease and so they're taking some precautionary measures. Today I had to have a skin biopsy done and I will have to start taking my favorite drug of all time - prednisone. Bloating and water retention here I come. The biopsy itself was not painful after they inserted some local anesthesia, however I could see the whole procedure and feel when they were stitching me up and that was not very pleasant at all. Other than that, my counts are remaining stable, still needing tons of magnesium every other day and having to maintain a high sodium diet.
Okay so I guess I've dragged on enough...I do know my chimerism results from the bone marrow biopsy. I have 95% donor cells (as of Day 28)! My doctor was very happy, he expected 30% and nothing higher than 60%. He said with my protocol they usually don't see that amount of donor cells present until Day 100+. I will have another biopsy done in about two weeks again to see how things are progressing and then we just wait and pray that the donor cells recognize my lymphoma as being bad and getting rid of it.
So that is it for this week, thank you to all who have been visiting and dropping off food, you can't imagine how much Chris and I appreciate it!!
I've been receiving a lot of anxious emails regarding my biopsy results and how I've been since it's been over a week since I've last done an update. I apologize, there hasn't been much going on and my results did not come back as soon as they had expected. Here's the latest news...
I've been feeling relatively good, this weekend I actually was able to get out a little bit which was very nice for a change. Unfortunately, Sunday I spent a little too much time in the sun so when I went in for my visit on Monday I got the scolding of my life by my doctor. I guess my face was slightly sunburned and he noticed immediately and was very disappointed in me since I'm to stay AWAY from the sun at all times. Being exposed to the sun can cause Graft vs Host Disease of the skin, which is not something they want me to be dealing with at this point. It also caused my fevers to return (although not as high) so he wasn't very pleased about that. I've had a rash on my skin now for over 2 weeks which they thought was an allergic reaction to some antibiotics that I was on, however after Sunday's sun adventure they're concerned that it's now Graft vs Host Disease and so they're taking some precautionary measures. Today I had to have a skin biopsy done and I will have to start taking my favorite drug of all time - prednisone. Bloating and water retention here I come. The biopsy itself was not painful after they inserted some local anesthesia, however I could see the whole procedure and feel when they were stitching me up and that was not very pleasant at all. Other than that, my counts are remaining stable, still needing tons of magnesium every other day and having to maintain a high sodium diet.
Okay so I guess I've dragged on enough...I do know my chimerism results from the bone marrow biopsy. I have 95% donor cells (as of Day 28)! My doctor was very happy, he expected 30% and nothing higher than 60%. He said with my protocol they usually don't see that amount of donor cells present until Day 100+. I will have another biopsy done in about two weeks again to see how things are progressing and then we just wait and pray that the donor cells recognize my lymphoma as being bad and getting rid of it.
So that is it for this week, thank you to all who have been visiting and dropping off food, you can't imagine how much Chris and I appreciate it!!
posted by Erika @ 5:01 PM
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