Almost done with Rituxan

Dave's next-to-last Rituxan infusion was last week and it was uneventful. His bloodwork still looks good. He gets his last treatment in December and then he'll probably be on "watch and wait" status until he needs more treatment. The blood clots in his leg are still a problem, but relatively minor when you consider all the other stuff he's been through the last couple of years.

-- Posted From My iPod Touch

Quick Update

Dave had an ultrasound of his leg today. The clot is still there (but we knew that.) He sees the oncology/hematologist on Wednesday, about the clot in his leg, and the CLL. More then.

-- Posted From My iPod Touch

Looking Forward to a June Vacation

Shooting with Darren Katin at SFMOMA Photo: ©2009 Anna Conti

Next week I'm at Kaiser for a Rituxan infusion and some blood tests. That leaves one more infusion this year then a revaluation with the Doc. Next January we may decide to end the infusions all together and put me on a watch and wait status. I'm not too sure how I feel about that right now, but I'm confident we will keep things under control what ever we do.

So I'm focused on my photography and my up coming vacation. No trips this year. Staying close to home, spending some mornings out early shooting and hanging out in coffee houses.

All is well.

Keeping Busy

CLL speaking, everything is going very well. My Rituxin infusions are down to four a year now. So I have two more this year and we will reassess in January. The idea of ending the Rituxin treatments is a bit scary right now, but if there is a chance of building a resistance to it over the long term, it would make more sense to save it for when the CLL cells start growing. We'll make those decisions when the time comes.

Anna and I have been keeping a hectic social calendar lately: museums and gallery shows, dinners, a lot of hanging out with the photographers and artists of the Blow-Up! group, family visits. You can check it all out on Facebook.

The photo above is from an evening at Noc Noc, on Haight Street. A bunch of Blow-Up! members got together to wish Bon Voyage to fellow member Tony Remington. Tony is in the Philippines working on a project on poverty and relief efforts.

Photo: ©2009 David W. Sumner

Caio for now.

Making Adjustments

Shooting along Market and Stockton after a morning at Kaiser.
Photo: ©2009 Anna L. Conti

This month is the one year mark for my Rituxin maintenance and time to make a decision.

I have to say Dr. Liu is great . He listens, he answers any and all questions and is very detail oriented. He appreciated the fact that Anna and I have done some research and know a bit of what we are talking about.

The three of us talked about what we had learned from the recent ASH and LLS conferences and agreed that since there are no hard conclusions regarding a practice of Rituxin maintenance we had several options, any of which Dr. Liu would be comfortable with. So I pretty much decided to reduce the frequency of infusions and will now be going in for Rituxin every three months rather than every two months. At the end of the year we will reassess.

My numbers are really good and holding. There are several new drugs and monoclonal antibodies in test and trial right now. There's a good chance I'll be able to deal with my CLL as a manageable for a good long time.

Need I Say More?

My Hematocrit is 41.2!

Photo: ©2009 David W. Sumner (People walking by, Union Square, San Francisco, California. 2009)

Baby It's Cold Outside

Things are well. Anna and I were out Tuesday evening to hear Virginia Tichenor and Marty Eggers play at Pier 23, a funky little bar and seafood joint right on the pier. Virginia and Marty are fabulous ragtime musicians and good friends. They really had the place jumping the other evening. The photo above shows us riding the N Judah streetcar home.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday and here's wishing you a Happy New Year.