Rick vs. Lymphoma Round 3
At my 3 month checkup, in April, my Dr noticed a lymph node in my lower abdomen on the PET scan that concerned him. We decided to repeat the scan in 1 month. The CT scan in May still showed abnormal activity. At the end of May they performed a needle biopsy. I added another phrase that I don’t ever want to hear my Dr say. He said “I’m going to take a really long needle and…”. I stopped him there and told him that I really didn’t need the details and I was adding that to my list, along with “nurse, get me a bigger needle" (that was from the last needle biopsy I had in 2017).
The biopsy revealed that I have composite lymphoma. It is 90% large diffuse B cell lymphoma, and 10% follicular lymphoma. Large diffuse B cell lymphoma is what I had in 2017. Follicular lymphoma is what I had in 2019.
My Dr is recommending Car-T cell therapy. They will collect T-cells from my blood and send them to a lab in California for some fun in the sun. The lab will genetically engineer the cells & turn them into Car-T cells (I can only picture the Terminator saying “I’ll be baack!” every time I explain this part). The Car-T cells will attack the lymphoma. If you are interested in reading more about the process you can go to
https://www.yescarta.com/car-t-treatment-process#leukapheresisOn Wednesday, June 17th they will extract my T-cells. It will take them about 3 weeks to engineer & divide and multiply the cells. When the cells arrive back at Nebraska Medicine, I’ll have 3 days of outpatient low-dose chemo to get ready to have the Car-T cells transplanted. I’ll be in the hospital for about 2 weeks after the transplant. There can be some pretty serious side-effects, so they’ll need to monitor me closely. It’s likely that I will also stay in accommodations near the hospital for several weeks after I am released to monitor those side effects.
At this time no one is allowed in the hospital with me. So Tina will not be able to go with me to the hospital. Good thing we both know how to use Zoom!
I have chosen this course because I am going for a CURE. It’s time to RALLY FOR RICK and get those prayer chains active with healing intentions for me and my family.
Here’s something else we need:
Please choose Tina and Chloe and their Mary Kay business for your skin care needs. They started as consultants together last year at this time to help cover medical expenses incurred from the first round of cancer and some of Chloe’s graduate school fees. The income from their business is even more crucial to our family now. Tina is a faithful Mary Kay consumer and has been for years, so when she and Chloe decided to start a business Mary Kay’s philosophy of “faith first, family second and career third” along with the company’s long standing Golden Rule ethics and empowering women was the obvious choice for them. There is a Mary Kay skin care line for men, young adults and several options for women so if you wash your face… Chloe and Tina can serve your needs.
The easiest way to connect with them is to register and start a customer profile on their website, www.marykay.com/treeble (
http://www.marykay.com/treeble) Choose the My MK tab to get started. THANK YOU!!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -In September I was diagnosed with lymphoma. We've spent several weeks running tests to determine the type of cancer and how far it has spread. It is the same type that I was treated for in 2017, and fortunately, is not in my bone marrow like it was the first time.
The plan for now is that I will have 3 rounds of chemo, followed by 2-3 weeks in the hospital in Omaha to do a Stem cell rescue. That will be followed up by 3 more rounds of chemo and then the medical team will replace my rescued Stem cells to jump start my immune system.
Last time I did pretty well during the chemo treatments. Fingers crossed, that will be true this time too, even though I'll be given a different "cocktail" of chemo drugs. I do know that each treatment will be over the course of two days this time.
This Tuesday Tina & I will meet with the staff at Nebraska Hematology & Oncology for Patient Education to learn what to expect from this particular combination of medications. On Friday I will have the chemo port placed in my chest. I'll start chemo the following week.
