At times it felt like this day would never come, but it’s finally here and everything went off without a hitch. Cathy has 120,000,000 new T-cells circulating throughout her body and as Lindsay aptly put it, we’re hoping this is the miracle we need! Cathy got her central line placed early this morning. There was…
It’s Go Time
This journey hasn’t exactly been linear, which I guess means that today’s curveball was just another Monday. We were back at UChicago today for a check-in. Cathy’s blood counts have recovered from the bendamustine, but the marker they look at to track cancer growth is on the upswing again. If you’ve been following along, originally…
Anti-Boring
We hoped for a boring few weeks, but we immediately got the opposite. Cathy had a check-up and clearance visit for her CAR T therapy on Monday. The doctor was concerned that it seemed the cancer had resumed its stubborn march, and was particularly mindful of some kidney-function related blood markers that appeared to be…
The Second Time’s a Charm (Twice)
Apologies for the delay in posting, luckily there has been enough news these last two weeks to fill my procrastination-shaped void. The tldr version of this post: Cathy is at home, rebounding nicely, and on track for CAR T-cell therapy in August as planned. That general summarization does obscure the volatility experienced since the last…
The One Where We Pivot
Things don’t always go perfectly to plan (see also: my aspirations to be a doctor) and this week we hit a few bumps in the road. The initial drug, Venetoclax, that Cathy was hospitalized to ramp up on, proved ineffective in reducing her disease burden (more like Ve-not-doing-very-much-clax, am I right??). Luckily, plans had been…
The Waiting Game
Today marks day number five at glamorous Hotel de Chicago (sponsored by the eponymous University). The accommodations are pretty top notch: around the clock room service (they even wake you up multiple times a night!), fresh linens, an unbelievable drug cabinet, a 3.5 star chef (who gives you stuff like milk, and soup and crackers…
Tap, Tap, Tap… Is This Thing On?
Well, as much as we wanted this blog to remain inactive, gathering digital dust in some corner of an anonymous data center, we unfortunately have to clear out the cobwebs and reactivate the support system: Cathy's cancer has returned. Back in December of 2022, the elusive Mantle Cell Lymphoma came out of hiding for the…
100 Days
From new Presidents to new employees, the 100 day mark is the unofficial standard for analyzing progress. Prior to the 100th day, there's always the "I'm still new" excuse to hide behind. But on day 101, if you're still putting your phone facedown on a copy machine because you think that is how screenshots are…
A Wedding and a Baby
If you were to script the last month of our lives for the purposes of making a movie, anyone reviewing the plot would dismiss it as "unbelievable." And unbelievable this last month has been. In the best way possible. By now many of you have probably heard the story of the importance of October 7th…
Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Cathy has now been home two and a half weeks after a miraculous last few days in the hospital. Three days prior to discharge her ANC count (a measure of her immune system and the number that dictates your fitness to fight any potential virus) was 0. Normal is >1,500. The next day it was…
Gugga’s Groupies 