Follicular Lymphoma blog – A Lymphoma Journey

Nothing To Report Here 😊

Now it really has been quite some time since I have written my last post. Each time I went to start writing I realised that I really didn’t have very much to say. The days of chemo going wrong and my physical health going downhill appear to be behind me. Or at least in theContinue reading “Nothing To Report Here 😊”

Anxiety Rules Ok!

I think we all have experienced someone telling a joke that nobody gets. Back in the 1970’s (I’m showing my age here) there was a popular expression that XXX Rules OK. At the time my father used to subscribe to a political satire magazine posted from England known as Private Eye. One issue featured oneContinue reading “Anxiety Rules Ok!”

Riding The Emotional Rollercoaster

I was expecting to write this story with the title something like. “Well that’s not good news” or “Trial fails to meet expectations.” However, in a major unexpected twist it didn’t turn out like that at all. Call me paranoid or delusional but I had convinced myself that after what appeared to be initial successContinue reading “Riding The Emotional Rollercoaster”

The Perfect Match

With week three of my clinical trial done and dusted and little to report that’s different from the two previous weeks. I thought I would take the time to document a little about the search for a donor when an allogenic transplant was still an option for me. Since family are the best source ofContinue reading “The Perfect Match”

Having A Double Expresso

Actually that’s an intentional typo, it should really read. Having A Double Expressor. What you may ask is a double expressor? And that’s why I have used the coffee analogy. Imagine that you have been going to the same café for the last five years and suddenly they change the coffee beans they have beenContinue reading “Having A Double Expresso”

A Tiny Dose Starts The Trial

It’s one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine days since a CT scan revealed that I probably had lymphoma. A battery of tests followed including an abdominal biopsy which confirmed follicular lymphoma. Like a lot of people I underwent six rounds of R-Chop chemotherapy a common first line treatment and then spent a couple ofContinue reading “A Tiny Dose Starts The Trial”

Frieda Is Actually Goldilocks

I started this blog sitting in the waiting room of the Auckland Cancer Clinical Trial Centre, waiting to start my trial. It’s been a very long road to get to this point and one that I have documented through this blog. Like everyone a certain amount of trepidation awaits what will happen today, will IContinue reading “Frieda Is Actually Goldilocks”

Fred Transforms To Frieda.

Those that know about follicular lymphoma will know that the disease has the ability to transform. Turning itself from an indolent slow growing disease into a faster growing harder to kill version known as DLBCL. So it wasn’t a major surprise, given how things have been progressing with my disease to discover that mine hasContinue reading “Fred Transforms To Frieda.”

I Got It So Wrong!

Yesterday I was at a support meeting for people with blood cancers and as is usual with this sort of thing I had to introduce myself. Easy, “my name is John and I have Follicular Lymphoma”. It was then that I realised that I had it wrong and I needed to correct myself. “Actually IContinue reading “I Got It So Wrong!”

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

When you watch people setting up a microphone to use in the public arena you often hear them say. Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3. sometimes this seems to be repeated endlessly which is a bit how I feel undergoing another battery of tests that hopefully qualify me for a phase one trial of the newContinue reading “Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3”