We spent the afternoon on the 8th floor of LDS Hospital where I filled out forms, was questioned, poked, prodded and informed. We met with Dr. Julie Asch, one of the directors of the Bone Marrow Transplant team at Utah Cancer Specialists.
She was great, very nice, informative and also very young. Rather than going through a Bone Marrow Transplant right now, she is recommending to us and Dr. Shehadeh a regimen of chemotherapy they call FCR, which consists of Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and Rituximab. She cited an ongoing study that is showing 70% of complete responders with CLL to be progression-free at 5 years. Complete response means that after the FCR treatment, the cancer is completely gone from the bone marrow (It is then in remission, but not cured, so it can come back in the future). If that happens, then we can go on with life, monitoring me regularly and then if or when it comes back, consider a transplant at that time.
If I don't show a complete response after the FCR treatment (4-6 cycles), then she would recommend that we look at a transplant at that time. We will meet with Dr. Shehadeh on the 19th and determine what we will do. Dr. Asch will write us and Dr. Shehadeh a letter explaining her recommendations next week.
Mom and I both feel good about what happened today and are quite relieved that there may be an alternative to transplant at this time. We appreciate all of the love and support we have received. This isn't over by any stretch, but we are encouraged.
Love to all.....
2 comments:
Yeah!
You are in our prayers always! We're so glad you got some good news!
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