FRIDAY, AUGUST 30th, 2019
The last two days have been quite eventful.
We found out Wednesday that both the Revlimid (oral chemo drug) and CAR-T Therapy were approved by insurance; however, although approved, there were several items that were still preventing forward progress.
1. The co-pay for the Revlimid still needed to be determined and co-pay assistance needed to b discussed.
2. The hospital needs an approval letter for CAR-T therapy; in addition, apheresis for CAR-T is booked until September 12th. So even if everything is in place, Chris will have to wait until the 12th to begin the harvesting process.
The Revlimid co-pay was resolved today, and Chris will begin the drug upon it's arrival at our house tomorrow. He will have to temporarily discontinue the drug 5 days before getting his apheresis.
Yesterday (Thursday) evening, Chris began having pretty severe abdominal pain. It had been worsening throughout the day, and grew to a point that was no longer manageable on the oral pain meds Chris was prescribed. At 9:30 pm, we decided to go to the 24 hour cancer clinic at Froedtert.
Chris was given several doses of Dilaudid to get his pain under control. Once his pain was manageable, Chris started taking his oral pain meds in addition to some 20mg extended release Oxycodone. This combination was able to manage his abdominal pain, but Dr. Shah's PA was concerned that his pain was only going to increase without any sort of treatment of his lymphoma in the abdomen. As a result, Chris had a consult with Radiation oncology.
Dr. Puckett (Radiation oncologist) assessed Chris's disease history and agreed that radiation therapy to his abdominal area of concern was appropriate to de-bulk the disease in this area, and as a result, hopefully have less pain. So, Chris had a CT simulation for radiation therapy treatment planning. The doctor then uses this CT to determine how to deliver the most effective dose of radiation to the cancer tissue with the least amount of radiation to healthy tissue. Luckily, Chris was able to receive an initial dose of radiation today. The plan is for him to receive 6 total doses of radiation therapy to keep the disease in his abdomen under control. In addition to today, Chris will get radiation therapy tomorrow (Saturday) and Tuesday thru Friday next week.
Hopefully, the radiation therapy, Revlimid, and combo Oxycodone will be enough to keep his disease and pain in check while we await his date for apheresis.
I will update with any new news as it happens.
V
The last two days have been quite eventful.
We found out Wednesday that both the Revlimid (oral chemo drug) and CAR-T Therapy were approved by insurance; however, although approved, there were several items that were still preventing forward progress.
1. The co-pay for the Revlimid still needed to be determined and co-pay assistance needed to b discussed.
2. The hospital needs an approval letter for CAR-T therapy; in addition, apheresis for CAR-T is booked until September 12th. So even if everything is in place, Chris will have to wait until the 12th to begin the harvesting process.
The Revlimid co-pay was resolved today, and Chris will begin the drug upon it's arrival at our house tomorrow. He will have to temporarily discontinue the drug 5 days before getting his apheresis.
Yesterday (Thursday) evening, Chris began having pretty severe abdominal pain. It had been worsening throughout the day, and grew to a point that was no longer manageable on the oral pain meds Chris was prescribed. At 9:30 pm, we decided to go to the 24 hour cancer clinic at Froedtert.
Chris was given several doses of Dilaudid to get his pain under control. Once his pain was manageable, Chris started taking his oral pain meds in addition to some 20mg extended release Oxycodone. This combination was able to manage his abdominal pain, but Dr. Shah's PA was concerned that his pain was only going to increase without any sort of treatment of his lymphoma in the abdomen. As a result, Chris had a consult with Radiation oncology.
Dr. Puckett (Radiation oncologist) assessed Chris's disease history and agreed that radiation therapy to his abdominal area of concern was appropriate to de-bulk the disease in this area, and as a result, hopefully have less pain. So, Chris had a CT simulation for radiation therapy treatment planning. The doctor then uses this CT to determine how to deliver the most effective dose of radiation to the cancer tissue with the least amount of radiation to healthy tissue. Luckily, Chris was able to receive an initial dose of radiation today. The plan is for him to receive 6 total doses of radiation therapy to keep the disease in his abdomen under control. In addition to today, Chris will get radiation therapy tomorrow (Saturday) and Tuesday thru Friday next week.
Hopefully, the radiation therapy, Revlimid, and combo Oxycodone will be enough to keep his disease and pain in check while we await his date for apheresis.
I will update with any new news as it happens.
V
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