Matt completed his mid point PET scan, hematology consultation and third round of chemotherapy!

We left for Rochester at 3am on May 2nd to get to Matts big day of midpoint checkups. Happy to report that everything is where doctors were hoping. His lesions, aside from 2, have all but cleared up. This is wonderful news, as the plan is to get the cutaneous lymphoma into remission to move onto full body radiation, then onto stem cell transplantation.

As a reminder, doctors had prepared us with the knowledge that this type of cancer has a tendency to outsmart chemotherapy, which is why they have prescribed the intense regimen with CHOEP.  His swap to this new phosphate Etopocide means he had a very standard treatment cycle, no reactions whatsoever, and we are so thankful for that. Doctors determined he is allergic to diluent, the mixing solvent for the drug, so the swap is just for the solvent deletion and the Etopocide he is getting is just as potent. His excellent PET scan results also mean that we may be able to do only 4 instead of 6 treatments with chemotherapy. This is not a guarantee but fingers crossed this is the case, as the effects of this treatment are catching up to our protagonist in this cancer epic. 

Matt has been absolutely gaming the chemotherapy game. He has maintained a healthy attitude about the reality of all of this all while keeping up with work, not a day off other than for treatments, his notable sense of humor and overall happy demeanor. He even managed a 4 mile walk just hours after his second treatment this past week with the lovely company of Vickie and David, our gracious hosts in Rochester the past weeks.

Kathy, his mama, will be accompanying him to his next round while I catch up a bit on work, and we are all very excited to see one another. Again, David and Vickie have offered up their home for our trips to town. We are forever grateful for that generosity and excited for Kathy to meet our new family in Rochester.

Whats next for him is up in the air still as far as timelines go, however, after chemotherapy we do know the next step of daily full body radiation will be a 4 to 6 week commitment. This means our first long term stay in Rochester is soon approaching, and we will likely not be able to stay with Vickie and David for that, as he will be quite medically sensitive and needing daily monitoring. We have looked into grants and long term stay options in town and are continuing to suss out what the best approach will be, but again, we are taking this day by day, step by step.

After that, we have stem cell transplantation, that seems so far off, but in reality, it isn’t, since he is doing so well on first steps. After that, remission, and hopefully forever. 

Please keep him in your thoughts, but also celebrate a bit from the good news we received this week. We are so thankful for every last one of you and are looking forward to a time when we can be in company with our loved ones again safely. 

All our love, Shelley and Matt