theunwelcometourist

ARNP: Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner. Like a physician but more confusing to address.

ALLO Stem Cell Transplant: April 21, 2011. The procedure that has so far kept me alive. Basically you get a new immune system from a donor that sees the cancer as foreign and fights it off. It’s complicated, since the rest of your body is foreign too. A simple actual procedure (it took about 45 minutes to infuse the stem cells, like a blood transfusion). A long, hard, arduous recovery that still is not over, but I’m here.

AUTO Stem Cell Transplant: Late February 2011. A treatment where they give you 5-6 days of extremely strong chemo, so much so where your body cannot recover without an injection of your own stem cells, which are collected prior. This procedure landed me in the hospital for 2-1/2 extra weeks and just didn’t do the trick getting rid of all of the cancer. Luckily I bounced back quickly and they were able to do the Allo transplant 2 months later.

Dr. F: My primary oncologist at Group Health.

Dr. M: The doc at SCCA who wrote my treatment plan, pretty much saving my life and convincing my insurance that I would survive to pay more premiums. My primary oncologist for at least a few weeks during an insurance shuffle.

GH: Group Health, my primary insurance which is also a hospital, practice, and pharmacy.

GVHD: Graft vs host disease. What can happen after transplant when the new stem cells are not getting along with you (the host), like an auto-immune disease, which can manifest in a variety of ways. Good for cancer fighting. Can be treated (carefully) with steroids.

Hickman Line: The catheter I had straight to my jugular during the 6 months of intense transplant activity. A foot of plastic wire hanging down from your chest. Can take large amounts of blood, do in and out at the same time, and deliver meds and fluid efficiently. Made bathing difficult.

Klaus: The name given to my donor. All we know is he is a 45 male from Europe, and the only reason I know he’s from Europe is that I had to sign a waiver that I would be an FDA rebel. Blood products from Europe are not allowed here because of Mad Cow Disease unless a patient consents. We are assuming he’s German since that’s most of my heritage.

LTFU: Long Term Follow Up (for transplant patients)

Marla: The name given to my tumor

NHL: Non Hodgkins Lymphoma

PA: Physicians Assistant, often your primary care person at SCCA. Attending docs are mostly behind the scenes, working on treatment plans.

PET Scan: Used mainly for cancer screening. Radioactive sugars are injected into your body. Cancer loves to eat these so active cancer spots light up on the scan.

PML: Primary Mediastinal Lymphoma

Port: A small device under my skin that makes IVs and blood draws easy.

SCCA: Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, the center that administered my transplant. It’s quite amazing to think that we live 3 miles from the center that pioneered the stem cell transplant, a place where people come from all over the world to be treated.