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Check Please December 11th, 2003. I went to see my new, local (San Francisco area) doctor yesterday to get my checkup. It was pretty much preliminary though, and there are tests Dr. da Roza will need to run to really dig in and see if he can find out if my remission is waning. We talked a little about the history of my NHL and treatments, then he gave me an exam that was very similar to what my doctor in Michigan gave me. It didn't take long, and afterwards I got my blood drawn for some testing and they scheduled a CaT scan for me, which I went to today. As usual, I had to fast for eight hours before and drink the banana-flavored radioactive milk (barium). Then I laid on the table in a hospital gown with my feet stuck through the big, magnetic donut with the laser and did the breathing exercises on command as the table moved me in and out of it. At one point, they injected something into the IV, which as usual, made my groin very warm very suddenly, but it's not uncomfortable or anything like that. It all went fine, and I was out in about an hour. I've an appointment scheduled with the doctor for next Wednesday. By then he'll have had a chance to go through my complete medical history and the latest blood and CT tests. He said he doesn't know at this point if he'll need another bone marrow biopsy or not, and I let him know that it's ok with me if he does. He also said that if it's coming back after me, we'll just go through treatment again, which will probably be Rituxan and chemo, and that he expects I'll respond favorably again, just as I did the last time. No worries. Meanwhile, I experienced night sweats the last two nights in a row, and the second night was a little wetter than the first. My lower back is aching a little more each day, and my energy levels seem to be dropping slowly, as they have for the past couple of weeks. I let him know all this, and that it's really what prompted me to go see him and get it all checked out again. So,
I'll let you all know what the doc says after I visit him again
next Wednesday. Till then, things are still good here
and I'm getting along fine. Christmas is in a couple weeks and
I expect to be flying home to Detroit for a visit on the 19th,
and returning here to the Bay area on the 29th.
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