It's called Rituxin "maintenance" this treatment. I describe it to people like this:
Chemo to me is the equivalent of getting Tented - the procedure exterminators do when your house has termites. You tent the entire house and blast the shit out of it with heavy duty chemicals until all the termites are dead.
But, just like with termites, cancer cells don't go away forever.. so then you schedule maintenance. The exterminator comes around and spray's your house every couple of weeks to keep the termites dead.
Monthly termite spray = Rituxin Maintenance
They say this maintenance regimen should buy me at least 5-7 years of cancer-less existence without the need for more chemo. Fingers crossed!
My "spraying" yesterday, wasn't so bad at all. It was an 8am appointment to get my blood work and see my Oncologist. I was checked in for chemo by 10a and was in my favorite chemo room, and had my favorite nurse Joy, by 11:30. I slept through most of it.. Joy eased the needle into my port gave me 50mg of Benedryl a Blanket, pillow and within about 25 mins. of watching Weeds Season 3 on my laptop.... I was sound a sleep in my chemo chair.Woke up 2 hours later, with 30mins left of the drip and I was out of Sloan Kettering by 2pm.
Very glad to have the first treatment over with. I had heard it wasn't difficult and that there were minimal (if any) side effects, but didn't believe it until I witnessed it for myself. Rituxin on it's own is a breeze... everyone was right.
Knowing you have a type of cancer, going to Sloan Kettering, waisting a day in a chemo chair, getting blood tests, meeting with a fertility specialist... that stuff mentally challenging. But, the R-maintenance chemo. Not a problem.
The Benedryl then kept me a sleep and high for the remainder of the day. I slept on Ali's couch until 7:15p. Was at We Unite for Haiti/Emma's show by 8p. The show was amazing.
The 5 guys cheeseburger and fries afterwords was almost as amazing.