Dear Family & Friends,
As some of you know, last week Barry got a very dire interim diagnosis. Today we went to see Dr. Coutre at Stanford (http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/cancer/faculty/Steven_Coutre) who told us the following good news:
1. Barry does NOT have a T-Cell Lymphoma. He has a clonal population of T-Cells and may have had them all along. They might develop into a T-Cell Lymphoma, or not.
2. He is sticking with the CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia) diagnosis, as well as possibly another B-Cell Lymphoma.
3. Neither the Rituxan nor the chemo (CVP) has done anything to ameliorate the disease condition, as Barry’s white blood count and lymphocyte count are still rising fast.
4. Barry has a chromosomal abnormality that precluded these two treatments from working.
5. Barry is still asymptomatic, and his lymph nodes are not enlarged, and his spleen (where he has been experiencing pain) is not terribly enlarged.
6. He will start on Campath, another monoclonal antibody, which is better at treating bone marrow and peripheral blood as opposed to lymph nodes.
We liked Dr. Coutre very much (second time seeing him) and are switching to him as Barry’s primary oncologist. He described Barry as “young” which we particularly liked.
As the Campath is a 12 – 18 week treatment regimen, with no terrible side effects other than a compromised immune system susceptible to viral infections, we will most likely be postponing or canceling most of our summer travel.
We will also be looking into stem cell/bone marrow transplant with the specialist at Stanford (http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/cancer/faculty/David_Miklos/) who has been doing a lot of work on CLL transplants. While there is presently no cure for CLL, they have been having good success treating it with Campath, and possibly curing it with the transplant.
We both thank you all so so much for your love and support. It’s now been nine months since Barry got the first diagnosis, of CLL, from our primary care doc. I don’t think we could have traveled this miserable path without all of you. And we’re still marching along…..
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Posted: June 22nd, 2007