We are back from see the Lymphoma Specialist. Good news!
Dr. P wants Pop to have another, maintenance, round of chemo. He had his last round in February and Dr. P is concerned with the aggressive nature of Pop’s Lymphoma. Dr. P did say Pop is a candidate for transplant. But the soonest we can get in to see the transplant doc is May 27th…which actually works out well. Over the next 4 weeks Pop needs to do the round chemo, have a lung function test, and we need to gather hard copies of all his latest tests and scans.
Then at the end of May we see Dr. Y who is the “transplanter”. He will go over all of Pop’s results and determine is he is a good candidate for transplant. Dr. P thought the only thing that could possibly kill his chance for transplant is the lung function test and his emphasema…but he doubted it. If all is a go, Dr Y will will admit him to the hospital for the work up and harvest of the stem cells. Once he has the amount he needs, he transplants them. Pop would have to stay hospitalized until all his blood counts returned to normal levels. Then they may need to stick around a while until Pop has regained enough strength and was ready to go home.
Overall it was a great appointment! I keep telling the folks all will be just fine and I sincerely believe it will be. I did ask Dr. P what would happen if Pop was deemed an unacceptable transplant risk. Dr P said we would just wait and watch for the lymphoma to return…it may never return or it may, we would just watch and see and treat accordingly.
I hope the results of the lung function test are favorable and he can get the transplant of stem cells. I will be saying prayers and doing a lot of positive thinking for Pops and the whole family.
I also wanted to say that I think it is phenomenal that the cancer is gone! That RICE treatment really did the trick and it is such a happier outcome than the first round of chemo he endured.
Pops sure is a strong man to endure all of this.