It's come to my attention that when you keep a blog that's at least in part about you having cancer, people start to worry when it isn't updated for a couple months.
Sorry about that.
Things have been going the way we anticipated when I had my most recent bad scan in October. I did take the two additional Adcetris treatments. Those did take the cancer back down to undetectable amounts. I had a PET scan after the second treatment and it was clean, which again is what we thought would happen. The Adcetris has been amazing at temporarily eliminating the cancer, but it isn't going to keep it away long term.
Since that good scan I've moved forward with two more Adcetris treatments just for good measure (for a total of four since my October scan). I finished my (hopefully) last Adcetris treatment this past Friday. Sadly the Adcetris did make most of my brand-new post-transplant hair fall out. I hadn't had any hair loss with the Adcetris before transplant but I suppose since my body was already in a weakened state after the transplant it didn't take much to send those new hairs packing. Still, no cancer in my body > peach fuzz on my head.
The doctor has taken me off my original immuno-suppressants (tachrolimus and Cellcept) and put me on a different one called sirolimus. We are trying to reduce my dosage of that drug as well, but my GvH refuses to be completely controlled, so we're backing off very slowly. Put more simply, I need to stop taking these pills but when I do my skin gets itchy and scaly and my G.I. tract revolts.
With any luck we'll continue to reduce the immuno-suppressants to the point I can come off them altogether. Then my new, transplanted, German-donated immune system can full on attack any cancer that tries to come back. I won't have another scan until February, so until then cancer worries are on cruise control.
I'm going to take the time to revel in a few holidays...and a couple of birthdays. I'll wrap presents, dance to 80's music, ring in a new year, celebrate a special 30th birthday, and right around the time of my scan I'll turn 32. (I was 27 when I was diagnosed.) Maybe in my spare time I'll grow a little bit of hair.
