First the good news: my platelet count has started coming up! Nine days ago it was 20K and last week it rose to 70K. This could be a sign my marrow is recovering. The hemoglobin was 9.2 and then 8.9 so did not need red cell transfusion for almost 2 weeks. This is all good because whether my poor levels of normal cells are due to marrow toxicity of prior treatments or the leukemia or both, if my marrow is recovering I may yet be considered for the chimeric antigen receptor (CART) trial!
But the bad news is that a month after the dramatic shrinking of my nodes with high dose corticosteroids and Rituxan, the more dramatically enlarged node is back in my neck, as large as ever. So I am scheduled for another round of steroids and Rituxan starting tomorrow. If I need this treatment every month to stay my nodes, one wonders how long it could go on, given the side effects of steroids (glucose intolerance, osteoporosis,etc). It would make moving on to another therapy perhaps more definitive sooner rather than later, such a transplant or CART...
The other implication is that if nodes worse yet marrow better, than perhaps IT IS recovery from marrow toxicity! Only time will tell.
Here are some pix, the node is back (first) and then me trying to keep a happy face on my life (second) - see no reason not to, have to enjoy each day and although it is 20 degrees outside, Spring is around the corner, and to be frank., life is good!
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