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I am 39 years old and in October of 2005 I was diagnosed with HCL. I went into see the doctor, because I couldn't sleep on my stomach. I had felt a large mass under my left rib cage. I thought it was related to mountain bike accident I got into a month earlier.  After the doctor felt around my lower rib cage area, she knew something was not right.  I took a blood test and found out my blood count was all out of wack.  Well after a CT scan and a bone morrow biopsy, it came back as HCL! She had a pic line put in right away and a few days later I started my seven day reatment of Cladribine.  The same day I started Chemo they gave me a Flu shot and Pneumonia shot, I thought that was strange.  I was doing fine for the first three days, until my temperature started rising. I went to the emergency and was admitted into the hospital where I stayed for one week. They disconnected the pump on the first day of admission to the hospital.  After one week in the hospital, I was sent home where I stayed in isolation for about one month. I needed to build my immune system back up to normal.  I was giving myself nutropenic injections daily.  After things were back up to normal, I was admitted back into the hospital so they could watch me, while I finished out the remaining four days of chemo.  I finished out the last four days with no fevers or any other problems, thank God!!!.
All the stories you hear about chemo treatments are true.  While in the hospital I was vomiting, had high a fever, and my body was being packed down with ice bags from head to toe.  It was not fun, but I survived.  After I was finished with my treatment I had another bone marrow biopsy and on April 8th of 2006, I was in remission!  Even after a disruption in my treatment, the chemo
still worked.  My spleen is still not back to its normal size, although it has gone down a lot since my treatment.  I am going to have my first Petscan on August 11th, 2006 to see how things are coming along. I feel good and have lots of energy.  If anyone wants to e-mail me, no problem.

Regards,

Danny
metalman5150@sbcglobal.net

August 8, 2006