Day One--Recap of first two infusions

For the year after my mother died, I kept a daily blog about my mourning process (www.mourningglories-mari.blogspot.com).  By doing this, I emerged a stronger person, which is even more necessary now as I deal w/ my recent diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  Therefore, I'm making the same pledge that I made after Mom died.....I'm going to write in this Moment with Mari blog every day for a year to work through the myriad of emotions a cancer diagnosis brings.  I feel it's appropriate that on this, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I begin a remembrance of my own that hopefully 10 years from now I can look back on as a survivor and not a victim.

On Friday, 02 September, I drove to my sister's in Minneapolis so she could drive me to Rochester for me to begin antibody therapy at Mayo.  Unlike chemotherapy, the Rituxin targets only the B-cells so I won't have all the negative side effects.  That first infusion on the 2nd took about five hours b/c they had to administer it slower since they didn't know how I'd react to it.  I did have a slight allergic reaction about halfway through.  My throat got scratchy and the inside of my ears started to itch so they stopped the infusion and gave me a large dose of Benadryl through my IV.  Once this reaction subsided, they restarted the infusions at a slower rate.  Aside from being tired due to the Benadryl, I felt great. 

On Saturday, 10 September, my friend Lora drove me to my second infusion.  This one only took about four hours, and I had no allergic reaction.  I have been mostly asymptomatic w/ my red and white blood cell counts being fine, no fevers, fatigue, or night sweats.  The only enlarged lymph node that I can actually feel is on the left side of my neck.  This, according to my hematologist Dr. Inwards, will be the most immediate indicator as to the effectiveness of the Rituxin.  I have noticed that this node feels like it's shrinking, but I also seem to have more symptoms like night sweats and fatigue.  I mowed lawn today and had to stop after an hour b/c I was exhausted......this just isn't me.  It felt today like all the lymph nodes in my body were revolting against these treatments.  During the first treatment I envisioned the antibodies shooting the b-cells and eliminating them and then hosing down the inside of my lymph nodes to fully cleanse them.  That's the vision I have to keep.  These treatments will work.  I will stay strong and force this disease into remission.