Test Results Came Back

The nodes in the left side of the neck showed up on the PET scan as increased in size and uptake of the radioactive glucose. Increased uptake in glucose indicates a greater concentration of cancer cells - not particularly good news. It could be that the disease is trying to change into large cell lymphoma - Richter's Transformation as it's called, not good news. But we won't know that until they biopsy the nodes in June.

The good news is that the donor T cells are now up to 36% of the total. That is up from 19% in February and 12% in November. That indicates that the transplant is still viable. The donor T cells were 67% of the total in October, the first time they were checked after the transplant. So they slid way down and are now trying to come back with the help of the DLI's.

They will likely give me chemo for the disease and more donor lymphocytes for the transplant in the future. The trick being to keep the disease at bay while helping the donor cells take over.