In Remission - no more nasty chemo!!

Yes, it's true! Much to my surprise - in fact I was quite taken aback when my doctor told me that I was in remission and he wasn't going to give me any more chemo! I had seriously been expecting to be told I'd be back in hospital the following Monday! But no, I'm finished with the chemo and am now on the upward slope of getting my strength back and planning to go back to work next January!

I'm still having the monoclonal antibody treatment (called Mabthera here in Oz. Rituxin in the USA) every 4 weeks until February. I have that as a day patient at the hospital - 'administered' the same way as the chemo, ie. through the portacath. But that's all. No more anti-fungal medication (?!), no more spending weeks in hospital ... ! To be honest it still seems really odd! Everyone that I tell is utterly thrilled and excited, and I'm still wondering about it all ...

I guess part of that is because he did say that since my white blood cells had still not recovered sufficiently, he actually couldn't give me any more chemo, even if he'd wanted to! So I guess it's lucky I am in remission!! And to date he/they haven't been able to do the stem cell collection. Don't know if they will in the future, or if it's just something that won't be possible.

I do have heaps of questions now, but at the time I was just so dumbstruck (I'm writing them down to ask the doctor next time I see him)! He kept saying to me: "this is good news Susie!!" Anyway, they'll do a whole heap more tests (bone marrow biopsy, CT and PET scans) in February, and hopefully (as I fully expect!) I'll be clear then too ...

So ... more news later but it was way past time to write here again). (Don't get me started on the computer problems I've been having!!)

:)