Message from the Family Nurse:

As you all know, Bob has had a re-occurence of the Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. This isn't the news we all wanted to hear but fortunately Bob's physician is taking aggressive action. Your phone calls, cards, good wishes and prayers are all appreciated. Bob and Tammy have asked me to relay medical updates on Bob's treatment and his condition. This prevents Bob and Tammy from having to continually repeat the latest medical updates and they can focus on positive, fun and uplifting correspondence with you. We hope you all understand our reasoning and respect their request so that they can go about life as normally as possible right now, and focus on Bob's recovery. So...... providing you with medical info is my job and I'm honored to be helping in this way.

Bob started chemotherapy on Monday, 4/26. The oncologist has him on a new regimen specifically formulated for the re-occurence of the cancer. The treatment is call RICE and each letter stands for a different type of medication in the combination of chemotherapy agents. Bob will receive treatment 4 days this week followed by a booster agent on Friday. He will then take two weeks off. This regimen will repeat itself two more times and will take up to nine weeks to complete. The treatments can take hours to infuse so Bob will have lots of time to read your cards, emails etc. Yes, he will lose his hair again and we don't yet know how his body will handle the medications. Please keep Bob in your prayers so that his body will be strong and side effects minimal. At the end of nine weeks, Bob will undergo tests and procedures to prepare for the bone marrow transplant and then will be hospitalized for several weeks. All of this makes for a lousy summer. However, Bob's oncologist is very optimistic and Bob is maintaining his great sense of humor and positive attitude. More details to follow.

Leigh

Bob's Story

What a wild ride we have been on. Just to get everyone up to speed. We were traveling home from my sister Roxy's home in Seattle in Nov 2009 when Bob found a lump on his arm, down by his elbow. He thought it was a spider bite. When it didn't go away he went to the Dr's and was told it was a "Hematobia" and would just go away. Well it didn't and it kept growing. He went back to the Dr and was sent to an Orthopedic Dr who did an MRI and biopsy of the lump. That's where the journey began. He was referred to an Oncologist who told him he had Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He went thru chemo and did really well and was then told he was cancer free. That was about 6 months ago. Last week he had a follow-up Pet Scan and the cancer was back! This time the process includes getting Chemo every day for a week and then he will have 2 week off and then will start it back up again for a total of 9 weeks. We are seeing a transplant Dr today as they want to do a "Stem Cell transplant" on him. It's not good news or a path we wanted to take due to the risks involved but at this point we have no other way to go. Once he enters into the hospital they will try and harvest his own stem cells that can be put back after he is hit with mass doses of chemo again. After they feel they have killed off all of the cancer cells they will then transplant his stem cells back. We will know exactly what will happen with the transplant later today after meeting with the Dr. I'll keep you posted on what is going on.