Sunday, August 25, 2013

August 23, 2013 - 4 of 4!

The fourth and (for now) final Rituxan infusion is in the can, baby! WOOT!

Friday began with an office visit with Dr. Hampshire the Awesome Oncologist, where we went over how I've been tolerating the Rituxan.  Very well, thank you!  With the exception of the cough that appeared during week 2 and the occasional fatigue, all is well in Rituxanville.  Since it takes 6-8 weeks for Rituxan to fully conclude its job following the final infusion, we scheduled a CT scan and office visit for October.

Then I made the short walk next door to the Outpatient Pavillion for the infusion.


I was in the chair by 9:30 AM and napping soon thereafter.  When Arlene the wonderful nurse said "Are you ready to go home?", I had no idea what she was talking about.  I thought something happened and they couldn't do the infusion, but she said "No, you're done!" 

Wow - talk about falling asleep HARD!  It was 12:30 but felt like only a few minutes had passed.  Alrighty then! 

Ran some quick errands on the way home, then took a little nap - apparently to recover from the hard napping I was doing at the infusion center!  Woke up feeling great and ready to put in a couple more hours of work on my little trailer.

With my next CT scan and oncology visit not scheduled until October, I feel like I've got a reprieve for a few months.  Not that the infusions or lab visits for bloodwork were bad; they were just a constant reminder of my extended stay in Cancerland.

Now, until October, I'm FREEEEEEEEE!!!!!

The next day, I was up bright and early to meet the 'Bad Tink team on the shores of our beautiful Mission Bay for the first session of this season. 


As Honored Teammate, I was going to be speaking to the Team, but didn't prepare anything.  I wanted to be able to speak from the heart.  It was an incredible honor to be able to stand in front of them, less than 24 hours after finishing up a series of four immunotherapy infusions, and show them in person what their fundraising dollars do.  Sixteen years ago, if my oncologist told me that my days on watch-and-wait were done and I needed to begin treatment, it would've been straight to chemo and its toxic side effects.

The FDA approved Rituxan as immunotherapy treatment for follicular Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1997.  Prior to that, Rituxan didn't exist as an option. 

Rituxan was made possible in part because of the millions of dollars funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma society for research and development.
 
And those dollars are raised by Team In Training athletes.

Quite a successful circle, I would say!

It's my hope that each runner and walker who listened to my story understands just how gratefully appreciated their fundraising is, and that every dollar MATTERS and is making a difference TODAY.  Right in front of them.


So grateful to each and every Team In Training athlete.
 
Thank YOU.

Because I'm still SO not a runner, I joined the Team walkers for their two miles along the bay, then finished up the morning chatting with this season's wonderful Teammates.
 
Then it was off to Home Depot for more stainless screws for my trailer project.
 
Because life gratefully goes on!