Drugs Part I

Here's where I'm going to go over my therapy and try to broadly explain what's going to happen. As all of you ought to know, I am no Doctor, and I don't understand much about the medical aspects of what's happening to me. I know a lot of people would probably want to become amateur oncologists after getting their diagnosis, but in my case, I'm just not that interested in every last detail. I trust my Doctors, the broad information I've found has assured me my prognosis is great, and reading more into the what-if scenarios and percentages would probably just drive me nuts.

So, as you're reading this, just bear in mind I'm a complete amateur. I guarantee I will make lots of mistakes and screw up several details.

What I've come to vaguely understand is that having cancer means my own body, or stupid parts of it, are trying to kill me. To put an end to that, I'm undergoing chemotherapy, or, injesting gallons of cutting-edge biochemicals that are going to (hopefully) seek out and kill the stupid cancer cells. In doing so, they are going to kill a sh*tload of cells I'm actually quite fond of, like those responsible for my hair, digestion, immunity and fertility, to name a few. To deal with that, I am going to take dozens of additional drugs to counter the drugs trying to kill the cells trying to kill me. I think it breaks down to something like 5 actual cancer drugs and 25 drugs to combat the cancer drugs. Hooray for 21st Century medicine.

Anyway, here's how I'm going to get better:

Several people (myself included, at first) figured my tumors would be removed surgically, with some followup chemo or radiation therapy to kill the leftover cells. That's not happening in my case, as far as I know because chemo is nowadays just that kickass at killing lymphoma on its own. I think in some extreme cases (like if the tumor was choking off my windpipe) surgery might be called for, but mine isn't that dire.

So, chemo it is, and in my case, I'm undergoing CHOP-R chemotherapy, which I'm told is pretty much the standard treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma these days. I have no idea where they came up with the name "CHOP-R", I figured it was an acronym, but "CHOP-R" doesn't really correspond to the drugs I'm taking. Weird.

It works like this: every three weeks I go to the cancer center, plop myself down in a barcalounger, have an IV started and spend 8-9 hours sucking fluids out of various IV bags, which a nurse changes now and then as they run dry. The first dose is a bag (a full half-liter, I think) of Benadryl, which feels exactly like main-lining a half a liter of Benadryl. This is to counteract any possible allergic reactions to the cancer drugs, specifically the mice protein they use to make the drugs. I guess if I had a mouse allergy it could be problematic.

Yes, the whole mouse protein thing is unsettling, another reason why I don't read too much into this stuff.

So, after taking enough Benadryl to lull me into a comfortable coma, they begin the heavy stuff, the actual CHOP-R drugs, which are: Rituxan, Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin and Vincristine. In between all those I have a few rounds of saline to flush everything though, and after I take Predisone (steroids) for five days.

I couldn't tell you what exactly each of these do, but the links I've included probably do. All I was told is that they each target and kill cancer cells in different stages of production. Rituxan is the new one, and by all accounts the wonderdrug that has revolutionized lymphoma treatment (thanks Genentech!). Also, Adriamycin is red, and it turns your pee red. I found that hilarious. And Prednisone I thought would give me all kinds of sweet roid rage, but mainly I was just tired.

Next I'll get into the drugs that counter the chemo drugs --