The Results Are In

Our Wednesday morning came and went with little fanfare.  It was a very quiet day around the oncology office.  Sort of strange for midweek but peaceful and restful none the less.  Phil had his second dose of chemotherapy and spent the morning dozing with the other patients in the "chemo-lounge", chilling in a wanna-be Lazy Boy with a crocheted blanket draped over his legs for comfort.  The hours pass slowly so he usually reads or dinks around on my iPad, checking emails or looking at "bike porn" as I refer to his habit of looking at either motorcycles or bicycles on the web.  Wednesday he mostly sat around awaiting for the results of his thorocentesis cytology to come back.


When Dr. Steven Kossman shared the results with him it was in hushed tones.  There were lymphoma cells in the flow cytometry.  Not a lot maybe, but they were there.  This isn't the news we were hoping for but certainly what we knew was probable.  It was disheartening to say the least.  And confusing.  We still don't entirely understand why Phil continues to get these effusions or know if they are an impediment to his BMT future.  When I picked him up from his session, Phil was tired, slightly nauseated and bummed, but being Phil, he was trying to put his game face on.  As soon as he got home he was on the phone to his contact at UCSD, calling to get answers about what this means for his situation with the BMT.


What he learned for now is that BMTs are best when patients are in full remission but they are performed for patients who are not in remission.  We are still moving ahead with our process and have been asked to come in on Tuesday to meet with their social workers to discuss the whole process and learn more extensively about the demands on me, the care giver, the family, Phil himself, etc.  The results from his brother's David and Jamie's HLA match testing should come in at the end and middle of this and next week, respectively.  In the meantime, Dr. S. Kossman will confer with Dr. Ball on the next appropriate course of action regarding chemotherapy (if any changes need to be made) and Phil will follow up on Friday to continue with the last treatment.  


Our seemingly forever process moves forward and the roller coaster keeps rolling.  Stay on your knees.