Waiting list

I am now on the waiting list to get a booster shot. I have no idea how long it will be. From studies, I am probably not protected by the Covid vaccines (Pfizer) I received in January and February. This is from today's email about recent studies and is from the LLS, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients are less likely to have detectable antibodies. The percentage of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma who were seronegative following vaccination ranged from 21% to 56%. This includes patients with diffuse large B cell, mantle cell, marginal zone and follicular lymphomas, as well as Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia. In contrast, just one of 64 Hodgkin lymphoma patients was seronegative. Many of these patients were treated with anti-CD20 antibodies such as rituximab, which eliminates B-cells that make antibodies.

(I had rituximab and I have (had?) Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma) 

P.S. I just scheduled my booster shot and it is this week! 

Home to stay

My blood draw from today showed good counts and so I won't have the twice weekly visits from now on! My next clinic visit should be for the PET scan on September 9th. 

I still have fatigue, neuropathy, mucusitis and constipation but improvement should be happening soon. And maybe hair growth?

I would have gone into the hospital in a few days since it will be 2 weeks. I miss a bit of the caring from the nurses at the hospital. But what a relief that I can just stay home.

Of course, with lowered immunity and the Delta variant there are still big limits on what I can do. I am in limbo until there is a booster shot for the 3%  of the population who like me are immuno-compromised. 

Only 16% of the world's population is vaccinated! 

Prognosis of lymphoma

I am just about to leave the hospital and breathe fresh air again. I am looking forward to that. It will be a month or two before my counts are up again and I can resume having fresh flowers, maybe taking in a foster pet, maybe going back to book group. 

 I didn't realize until just now that I have follicular lymphoma AND DLBCL or Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. The latter is the aggressive type. The prognosis is not as rosy: Through these treatments, more than half of all patients with DLBCL can be cured; the overall cure rate for older adults is less than this but their five-year survival rate has been around 58%. (Wikipedia)