Not Richter's!

So very happy! It's not Richter's that's plaguing me after all. It's my old nemesis, CLL/SLL, that's flexing its muscles and trying to get the upper hand again. It'll take some hard work and determination to calm him down, but I'm up for the challenge!
We talkes strategy some today, but didn't come to a decision yet. I'll have a CT scan on the 30th, labs and appointment with the doc on April 4th, and try to choose a treatment plan then.
Thanks for the prayers and support. And thanks to my Heavenly Father for another chance.

Family Dinner

Gracias to Colin and Macey for cooking up this magnifico meal for us. We look forward to breaking bread or tortillas with them, and Jason and
Brianna, on the second Sunday of every month. Delicioso!

Richter's Syndrome

Hey friends, I've been sort of sick lately. The oncologist suspects the CLL has transformed into a very nasty beasty called Richter's Syndrome, an aggressive form of an acute lymphoma. I'm having a lymph node biopsy Tuesday morning to find out for sure. It'll take a couple of days to get the pathology report back, and if it is RS, I'll start chemotherapy right away. If it's not RS, I still need to start some kind of treatment, maybe Revlimid. RS has a very poor prognosis, but I know one person who survived it for several years. For many though, it's a matter of months.

So here we go. I have been so so blessed in dealing with CLL so far. Misdiagnosed with mononucleosis in 2005; officially diagnosed with CLL in 2006; treated with 6 rounds of PCR (Pentostatin, Cytoxan, and Rituxan) in 2007; and feeling completely fine and healthy up until about 6 months ago. Maybe R-CHOP will kick this thing, and maybe it won't. My CLL guru, Terry Hamblin, didn't have the answers for it yet either, but he recommended HDMP, which I doubt our local guy will go for because, admittedly, there's no conclusive proof of its efficacy. So I'll use what's available here, and hope for the best. I trust that my Father in heaven knows what the best is, and I cheerfully submit to His will. Love to all of you.

Big P.S. I can cheerfully submit today because I'm not experiencing debilitating side effects from treatment right now. Give me a few of those and my cheerfulness will likely vanish. Also, I can cheerfully submit because I am a 60-year-old grandmother. Were I watching a younger person cope with a tough dx, you can bet all signs of cheerfulness would be absent.