Our appointment info pack told us to be ready for a 4-hour appointment but, it turns out, that refers to a typical chemo treatment. Today we were getting initial blood work, meeting the doctor, agreeing on the treatment plan, and submitting requests for the treatment plan. All told, it only took a couple of hours.
The treatment plan consists of R-CHOP chemotherapy and multiple medications John will be taking at home to either boost his immune system or manage side effects.
The first chemo appointment will hopefully be within the next four weeks. John must have a baseline EKG, the chemotherapy needs to be submitted to insurance for approval, and have a consult with a pharmacologist to discuss all his medications. Once the EKG is done (hopefully next week) and insurance approves, the first treatment will be scheduled.
Treatment
Treatments will last about 3 1/2 months which is 6 total chemo treatments.
- The first treatment will be two consecutive 8-hours days.
- Subsequent treatments will be every 3-weeks lasting from 2-4 hours.
For this type of cancer and how it is presenting in John, radiation will not be needed.
NLPHL
Like the lab work mentioned, some of the cancer cells from the biopsy are presenting as aggressive which is yet another rare form of lymphoma called DLBCL. The NLPHL is slow growing and very treatable. Throughout the treatment t will be important to see whether the cancer cells stop rearranging themselves.
Staff
The staff at Duke have been consistently nice and helpful. The online medical chart keeps us up-to-date with almost everything to do with John as soon as it's available.
Finally
After a year, it's finally good to know exactly what we're dealing with, have a well defined treatment plan, and oncologists, pharmacists, nurses, and nutritionists we can contact directly. I could still be another month before we know how John will handle chemo but at least we're finally on the road.
