Friends of Geraldine

Category: Treatment

  • Transplant Information

    Hello Everyone!

    What a day. Let me first start off by telling you that I have a ton of information to share regarding my upcoming transplants. This is no small thing and I encourage you to ask me questions and post them in your comments. Be sure to include your email address so I can respond. Here we go. Today I met one of my three transplant doctors at Medical College of Virginia (MCV) who will decide what kind of transplant I will be having (autologous or allogenic). There has been great debate from multiple transplant oncologists as to which treatment would be more successful. An allogenic transplant means that I would be receiving bone marrow from an unrelated donor (because I am an only child). The mortality rate for this procedure is high for most patients, but in my case it is even more so coming from an unrelated donor. The positive effect of having donor bone marrow is that this new immune system recognizes the cancer cells as being bad cells and kills them. Unfortunately, it does not recognize certain vital organs as good organs either and can attack those. Rejection of this new immune system is a risk and so is Graft Versus Host disease (GVH).

    The best transplant center in the United States that has the most up to date cancer transplant treatments is called the Hutchinson Center located in Seattle. Their most recent research shows that a person with my type of Cancer (refractory or progressive Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) may not truly benefit from an allogenic transplant. So the question is this: do I undergo an allogenic transplant with a great mortality risk and not so great results or do I undergo an autologous transplant (using my own stem cells) and risk a relapse?

    This has been an ongoing question without a clear answer until today. According to my new group of doctors, I will be undergoing a tandem or double autologous transplant. I have to do this transplant procedure twice. Are you kidding me? Why in the world would I do this twice? Well, the answer is simple: to save my life. I guess when you put it that way there is no room to argue or compromise.

    MCV is participating in a clinical trial to see if patients with my type of Cancer have a greater rate of success from a double auto transplant versus a single one. Recent data has shown this to be true, but more research needs to be done and that is where I will be participating in that research. The good news is that an autologous transplant has a very low mortality rate, but the bad news is the my insurance company may not cover both procedures. This is not the normal standard of care and my insurance company may deem it experimental (which means not covered). MCV will be contacting my insurance to do everything they can to make this happen. It’s really exciting to be part of some Cancer research that may benefit millions of people in the future. A interesting way of “giving back.”

    What will happen in the next week is that I will have one more round of ICE chemo. Once my blood counts are back up, I will begin harvesting my stem cells. The high dose chemo won’t begin until mid November, but that may change. I do plan on posting my transplant experience along with a timeline as it unfolds. I know that this is a lot of information to digest and if anyone is interested in more detailed info, please let me know. I am completely exhausted and physically fatigued from today’s events, but once I understand everything that is going to happen, then I will be ready to rock!

  • Great news and thank you’s

    Wow! What can I say? I am truly overwhelmed by the amount of people that have donated and left me such wonderful comments. This journey has been the most challenging experience of my life and often, I feel completely alone in this battle. Your comments bring me such comfort and strength which helps me to be strong and fight. I can not express in words how grateful I am for all of your donations. All of you have touched my life in different ways, and I thank you with all of my heart and soul for making a difference. I love you all dearly.

    And now for some much needed great news. I went to the oncologist today and got my PET Scan results. The tumor in my lung has completely resolved and the tumor in my chest has greatly reduced in size. I am not in remission yet, but my cancer has responded to ICE chemotherapy treatment (finally). I will have one more round of ICE chemo before I undergo an autologous transplant. I will meet with my transplant doctors tomorrow to get all of the details. I am not out of the woods yet, but this beautiful bald b**** (BBB) is making a comeback!

  • Update: Round 2 of ICE chemo

    Geraldine just underwent three intense days in Norfolk General Hospital in her second round of ICE chemotherapy.  She is feeling very tired, and has been in bed for a couple of days since that time.  As you can see by her previous post, all of her hair fell out before she went through this round of chemo.  Her appetite and energy level seem to be a bit increased this time vs. the first round. She’ll probably be up and about by the end of the week.

    Her spirits are low, so it would be a good time to call, text, or leave comments here.

  • Bald

    Chemo Sucks!
    Chemo Sucks!

    There is no other way of saying this, but I am officially bald. I knew that I was going to lose my hair, but I did not anticipate that it would happen so quickly. This past Saturday, my ponytail completely came out. I was really horrified and shocked at the same time. It was so much hair. I called a girlfriend of mine and cried on the phone to her. She cried with me and told me that she loved me. Thank you Courtney. The following day, I was still kind of in denial about my hair loss up until I took a shower. The warm water was really relaxing and I ran my fingers through my hair, not knowing this would be the last time that I would feel the texture of my hair touch my hands. I opened my eyes and there in my hands was the rest of my hair. Just like that, it was gone. It was nothing compared to the ponytail that had fallen out the day before, I should have been grateful just for that. It was a huge pile of hair resting in my hands, almost like a bird’s nest. I was not shocked, but sad for my loss. I stepped out of the shower and looked at myself in the mirror. I still had some very small patches of hair, enough to make me look completely foolish if I left it that way. I decided to clean it up and make me look as good as I possibly can, so I asked my father to shave my head. Its funny because I normally give him a haircut every two weeks and now the roles were reversed. I’m still getting used to my new look, but one thing is for sure, I have surrendered to accepting that my hair is gone for now, but not forever.

  • Update: Round 1 of ICE Chemo

    Geraldine’s first round of ICE chemotherapy concluded on Friday evening, August 8. For nearly a week, she was mostly bedridden, nauseous, and extremely fatigued. As of today, she is slowly coming out of her “chemo coma” as she calls it.

    A very real danger is that she may become Neutropenic, which basically means that she is “more susceptible to bacterial infections and without prompt medical attention, the condition may become life-threatening.”

    It’s a shame, because just as she is feeling better and ready to get out of the house, she’s being ordered back into isolation for the weekend.

    She has also been told that in two weeks or so, her hair will completely fall out. Not just a little at a time, but all at once, in clumps.  She plans on shopping for scarves this weekend, and getting her hair cut as short as she is able to to avoid the shock.  Still, this is a major blow to one’s self-esteem, and is especially hard for a beautiful woman.

    We plan on documenting the haircut and the hair-loss with a video camera. It will not be easy on her, but she has refused to let her friends shave their heads in Solidarity, stating “you don’t look all that great now, you don’t need to make it worse…” hehe.

  • Alternative Treatment Center

    A friend’s mother-in-law has had positive personal experience with this facility located in the Bahamas.  The cost would actually be less than some of the conventional treatments in the U.S. after insurance.

    http://www.cancure.org/iat_clinic.htm

    Update: here is the link that works for these folks: www.immunemedicine.com