Starting treatment

I'll be starting treatment in 2 weeks . . . I finally decided on taking chemo (bendamustine) alone rather than joining the clinical trial. There were many reasons why I decided to go with chemo alone, but mostly because it just feels like the right decision for me. I will have a total of 6 treatments over the next 6 months.

The idea of taking a chemo drug again definitely makes me nervous and all the old emotions and memories from the 1st time I had chemo keep popping up. But according to my oncologist and everything I've read, bendamustine is supposed to be very well tolerated with minimal nausea and no hair loss - I even got my hair did today (thanks Marcille and Diane - you guys rock!!)

So I keep hoping for the best and waiting for the next 6 months to begin. I'm a bit scared to start my new path, but feel confident that I'll be in remission again because bendamustine has a very high response rate :) Go Bendamustine!

As a side note, did you know that bendamustine is actually an old chemo drug? It was developed over 40 years ago in East Germany, but it didn't have much cred here in the States until very recently. In fact it was only approved by the FDA for my type of cancer 2 short years ago. But recent studies have shown that it has an extremely high response rate with minimal side effects. Who would have thought that a near perfect chemo drug would have been invented so many decades ago from behind the Iron Curtain? I guess it's just a reminder to keep our minds open as to where the next great treatment drug will come from . . .