Anubis

He's doing ok. The tumor has lost density since yesterday.

Glad to hear that Anubis is stable.

The CCNU did not do much, so today he got asparaginase, the top drug on his panel, with a benadryl pretreat. Back up to 86.5 lbs and the tail has not stopped. Next week is a break week so we can take a trip together, and a radiation consult is being arranged. We keep going.

Pivot day. Off the CHOP backbone and onto CCNU (lomustine), guided by the sensitivity panel. The tumor looks a little bigger today, which is hard to type. A new ointment for the wound after the culture found a stubborn bacteria. He got extra dinner. He knows nothing is wrong with extra dinner.

The drug sensitivity panel is back and it explains a lot. His cancer is CD8+ peripheral T-cell lymphoma, stage IIIa, and it is largely resistant to the CHOP drugs we started with (vincristine scored 0.15 of 1.00). The best bets are asparaginase at 0.60, mitoxantrone at 0.59, and lomustine at 0.55. The plan is changing, and honestly, having a map feels better than guessing.

Round two: cyclophosphamide. Real news: the mass is a little smaller. The open wound over it has picked up an odor though, so a culture went off and his antibiotics changed. 81.1 lbs today, he has lost some weight this week.

Lab confirmation: it is T-cell lymphoma. The PARR test found a single monoclonal T-cell line, which is the serious kind. He remains completely unbothered and deeply invested in whether anyone is going to open the cheese drawer.

First chemo today: vincristine, the start of the CHOP protocol. He weighed in at 86.4 lbs and charmed the entire clinic. A sample also went off to the lab for drug sensitivity testing, so the treatment can be matched to his specific cancer.

Biopsy results: a round cell tumor, almost certainly lymphoma, and a fast growing one. Not the news we wanted. He marked the occasion by demanding dinner forty minutes early, which honestly feels like the right attitude.

The lump we hoped was a swollen lymph node got a proper biopsy today. It has grown fast over the last few weeks, about the size of a grapefruit now, with an ulcerated patch in the middle. Anubis slept through most of the visit and woke up for the treat at the end, as is tradition.