Remission and beyond
After another year, two maintenance cycles later, I was declared to be in remission. Lymphoma is one the the cancers that are currently considered incurable. That makes the number of “R” treatments 8 (initial 6, and extended 2, of the treatment cycles every three weeks) plus 16 (four maintenance cycles of weekly treatments for four weeks each) = 24. 24 infusions of Rituximab, not counting the other drugs in the first eight regular treatments, each costing about $6000. That’s $144,00. for just one drug! Add CT and PET scans, hospital stay, urologist office visits and procedures, oncologist office visits, labs and the other infusion drugs and procedures, and the original GP , surgeon and other consultations in the diagnosis. In a period of 2½ years I “spent” a fortune. I’m sure this earned the insurance premiums. But neither should be this high.
Anyway, that was the end of January, 2012. Since then, including a few other illnesses and conditions along the way, I’m now taking nine drugs (one in three doses) daily. By far most of these are an attempt to counter the side effects or conditions resulting from the chemo. They don’t entirely but I’d hate trying to do without.
I’m now nearing 4 years in remission. I get blood tests and oncologist visits every 6 months. My existence as a “cancer patient” has outlived the careers of some of my oncologists. I’m on my fourth not counting the director of the consulting practice partnership who was there for my initial hospital stay. I guess that’s a positive thing. Most of the support staff I’ve enjoyed seeing are still at the infusion center.