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Surprise From My Oncologist

The results of my latest blood work on Wednesday, and subsequent exam revealed essentially no changes in my condition. Lymphocytes had actually come down slightly, hemoglobin was back above 13, and spleen and liver were unchanged. Platelets were up, but my doctor didn't seem to think that was anything unusual. I'll wait till my next CBC to see if it is a trend or not.

As we usually do, we talked about possible treatments when the time comes. My doctor went through some new information he had learned, and to my surprise indicated that in indolent lymphoma's the trend was to try Rituxan alone as an initial treatment. That had been my choice of treatment for awhile now, but when we had talked about it previously, he indicated it may not be the best approach. Even two other experts, I sometimes consult with in France and the UK, indicated that while it would likely do no harm, they weren't of the opinion that it would do any good either, and recommended against it.

Still, when the time comes, that is likely the route I will choose, unless of course I change my mind.

Another surprise was my doctor offered the opportunity to begin treatment now. I thought about if for a moment and declined. I'm still feeling fine, and didn't see the point in beginning now. I will wait till absolute lymphocytes are over 100K (currently at 80K), or platelets start to drop before deciding. So right now I have a little while to go.

My doctors departure to TX is not for about two more months, so I don't have to make a final decision about a new oncologist just yet. I had pretty much decided on one doctor, because I was told he was more into research, but the one nurse in the office, who I think very highly of, and who told me that doctor was more research oriented, recommended I go with one of the other two in the office. So now I'm not sure what I want to do. At least I have a little longer to decide.

I only wish that was my only problem.

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Jennifer said…
Hi I managed to get to your blog eventualy. I see that your wbc is at 80 now, my spleen had to come out when mine had got to 77. Are you sure that your tiredness after all your cycling isnt that your spleen is getting bigger (dont know how big yours is) I played tennis until the day I couldnt breath on the court and had to stop. shortly after that my spleen was removed and I could feel my left lung inflating again. Didnt know you were even thinking of such things as TBI and BMT. It is known that splenectomy can have a good effect on MCL and other NHL's.I thought you were quite keen on going that route!
Cheers for now
Jennifer
Africa
6:52 AM
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