I was Chris' wife/caregiver & this is the medical blog I wrote during his treatment. Short history: dx in July 2010, no initial bone marrow involvement, did 5 rounds hyper-cvad protocol. Found out he is in relapse/refractory status with involvement in his chest, spleen, inguinal & throat lymph nodes, bone marrow, spine & brain in January 2011 when we went to MD Anderson for treatment. The two different rounds of chemo Chris got at MDA could not put him in remission; he died of leukemia/lymphoma on March 18th, 2011, an astonishing and horrific 8 months after his diagnosis.
There is a donation page for organizations here: http://chriscranecancer.blogspot.com

Friday, October 22, 2010

test negative! and more info

His bone marrow was negative for cancer in both his right and left hip samples.  Good news!  These were the results his Dr. predicted but wanted to be sure.  
He scheduled a abdominal CAT scan for Chris on Monday.  This scan will rule out the possibility that Chris' spleen is enlarged which could account for his low blood counts.  Dr. Cannon doubts his spleen is enlarged and wants to rule it out.
Dr. Cannon thinks he might have something called ITP.  Here is a link for more info about ITP  His Dr. said it is a very common auto immune disease and he sees patients with it every week.  It could be why his blood counts aren't recovering.  There is no specific test for it, it's something that is diagnosed when all other possible reasons have been ruled out.  At any rate Chris will start taking prednisone today to see if it helps.
His next appointment with Dr. Cannon is next Friday.  He'll go over the results of the CAT scan and have a blood draw to see if the prednisone is helping.  
Some more good news is that the scan Chris had done on his chest when he was in the hospital showed no signs of the original mass, which means the chemo cycles so far have worked to get rid of it.  This does not mean he is cancer free, it just means the mass is no longer visible on a chest scan.  He still needs to complete the regimen (8 cycles and radiation).  
Hopefully the prednisone works and after meeting with his new Dr. in Texas he can start round 4.  

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