Lots of Tests

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Wrapping up our third day at MD Anderson and wow we’ve been busy. Yesterday Frankie started the day with a CT Scan of her neck and chest at 4am. She had an echo done to make sure her heart was ready for chemotherapy. She had a bone marrow biopsy done, which she said was a “humbling” experience — one of the most painful experiences she’s endured. And then she got her PICC line in so that it’s easy to get infusions directly into her system. She also met with about 30+ MD Anderson staff, everyone from the fertility clinic to a chaplain to the young adult association and more. We have felt so taken care of by everyone here and truly feel in good hands. By the end of yesterday, Frankie was pretty wiped out but felt hopeful that we had completed most of the remaining tests.

Today, the 25th, was primarily focused on finalizing the diagnosis and getting everything in order for treatment to begin. The slides from her biopsy in San Antonio were read by the pathologist here at MD Anderson and the rare diagnosis of primary mediastinal b-cell lymphoma was confirmed. Though we were hoping it would be something more common, we feel that the doctors have a great plan in place. Tomorrow morning she will start the first round of chemotherapy. The first round will be R-EPOCH which is a combination of immunotherapy and chemo. She will have 5 days straight of infusions as part of this first round, or 120 continuous hours. The day after the first round is complete she will receive a shot to help boost her platelets. After that shot, she will finally be able to return to Austin for a few weeks before the next round. The plan is to connect with a local oncologist in Austin to help with ongoing bloodwork but will return to Houston for infusions. After this initial round, Frankie will likely join a clinical trial that has shown great success with this kind of lymphoma and will run its course over the next 5-8 months on a 21 day cycle.

As you can imagine, Frankie is feeling a lot of emotions as she begins chemo. Definitely some anxiety but also knows it’s an important first step on the long road to recovery.

Please continue sending her love and light — she feels it and appreciates it ❤️