Well, today was a much anticipated day. I was going to see Dr. Kipps, evaluate where I am, and figure out what the next steps of treatment would be. I should have guessed what the results would be. The good news is that my white count continue to drop (13,000, but still not in normal range), my red count is stable (AIHA seems to be under control), my spleen has all but disappeared (really good news), but my lymph nodes are still there is some places. The good doctor feels like we are still seeing positive results and I am tolerating the treatment well so he wants to do ROUND 4. If I were unchanged from last visit (nodes, spleen, counts) he would have probably not recommended a fourth round. But because I am still responding, we will try one more round. Last year I only had 3 rounds and he said we got a triple (World Series / Baseball analogy) and this time he wants a home run. I had already scheduled this just in case for next week, so next Monday we will be heading down there for another 3 day adventure. The good news is that no matter what, this will be the last round of this type of treatment. The bad news is that there will be some kind of treatment after that, but that will be decided later.
I will see Dr. Kipps in 6 weeks or so to figure out what to do next. I know a bone marrow biopsy is out there somewhere, so I have that to look forward to. We discussed a number of different options regarding what my next treatment will be and I would guess that I would start something else after the first of the year. A new drug, similar to Rituxan, was just approved for CLL by the FDA last week, so that may be an option. We also discussed some clinical trial options that are being done or considered at UCSD. So I am once again playing the waiting game.
I am feeling good right now after some kind of bug two weeks ago. So to take advantage of this break, we are leaving for Seattle tonight for 4 days to see all my Seattle relatives.
Terry
