It's Official...I'm off FCR

I met with the local onc doc at UC Davis, and she told me there was no point in continuing to wait while my marrow struggled to make neutrophils. They have just not recovered from the fourth cycle in January.

She said she would schedule an MRI to check the abdomen. However, I know the nodes never were significantly reduced by the FCR, though I did have a response even there. Just not enough.

My response in the blood/marrow was good, I guess, though I have been mired in neutropenia land for almost two months.

Knock on wood and prayers...I have not been sick with an infection, though every tiny cut gets infected and it takes forever to resolve them. I have been dealing with gastric problems for years, and that has not improved either.

I also with have a bone marrow biopsy next month with Kipps. I will see how terrible my marrow is.

After a nice eight-year really non-eventful life with intermediate risk CLL, my cancer has not been kind to me at all.

On the positive side, the number of trials for CLL continues to increase, and there are a number of theories out there that sound really promising. I just don't know if I'll be around to get to try any of them...