Biopsy and PET Scan Results

By Tuesday, October 7th, we had the results in from the biopsy and PET scan. Her oncologist (let’s call him Dr. B.) confirmed Stage 4 CLL and said that her scan showed signs of a swollen spleen and lymph nodes, symptoms that were typical for her case. Normally we probably would have been heartbroken. The prognosis for stage 4 in some articles that we found was about 1-3 years, 5 if you’re lucky. She just turned 30 in August. It seemed so unfair. However, Dr. B explained that, due to the atypical nature of the case (with her being so young and in oddly excellent condition for the circumstance), he was very confident that she would respond well to treatment and could possibly live out the rest of her life normally...50-60 years, “however long you plan to”, was what he said.

He prescribed a Fludarabine, Cytoxan, and Rituxan chemotherapy regimen, to be administered over 3 days...which would count as one round. She’ll be expected to go through this regimen once a month, for 4-6 months (4-6 rounds), depending on how well she responds to treatment. The hope is that she will go into remission after this first line of chemotherapy.