Infusion #2 - Complete!

We can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since Frankie first started treatment, but the 3-week treatment cycle is now the new normal for the next few months. We are trying to get used to It. On Tuesday night, Val and Kirk flew in from Santa Barbara to join Frankie in Houston this week. Between Wednesday and Thursday, Frankie had labs, her port placed (so all infusions will now go through the port instead of her PICC line -- the port placement created quite a bit of discomfort but we know it'll be best in the long run), they met Dr. Nair, Frankie's wonderful doctor, and she had her second treatment.

Unfortunately, the standard of care for Frankie's rare form of lymphoma is a really intensive, inpatient chemo regimen: 120 consecutive hours of chemo every 3 weeks for 6 rounds. However, her team at MD Anderson is conducting a clinical trial with a new approach focused on immunotherapy and outpatient chemo, and luckily, Frankie was admitted into the trial. This was a huge relief because her first round of treatment was the 5-day inpatient infusion, and it was so brutal.

On Thursday she received her first immunotherapy infusion. The hope is that the immunotherapy will be a little less hard on Frankie's body than the chemotherapy, especially the intensive chemo treatment she experienced during the first cycle. Frankie will have two cycles (including the one this week) that is just immunotherapy. Then, they will do another PET scan to see how she is responding to the treatment. At that point, they will determine what balance of chemo and immunotherapy she will receive for the following, final 6 cycles. If she is responding well, then it'll be more immunotherapy and less chemo, but either way there will be a mixture of the two.

Although the fam had planned to drive back to Austin on Thursday evening after the treatment, Houston weather had a different plan for them! Val and Kirk got a little taste of Houston weather chaos, so they stayed another night, and drove back to Austin Friday morning. It's been great to have Mom and Dad around, and we had a nice relaxing weekend as a family. Though the immunotherapy side effects seem better than the chemo treatment so far, Frankie is feeling quite tired this weekend and is trying to focus on resting. Frankie continues to show her strength every day, and she is taking this whole experience with such grace.