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My last LAMP


Campy

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Hi all. I've received many PMs and I've tried to respond to all of them. Please forgive me if I overlooked yours. Rest assured that I read it, and knowing that you're thinking about me warms my heart.

 

GOOD NEWS: I just learned that I won't need to undergo chemo (at least not yet). They are going to use immunotherapy (Rituxan) to see if the cancer responds - there's a 50-50 chance it will do something. There's a very small chance (but a chance all the same) that the immunotherapy will 100% kill the cancer. The primary goal is to prevent the cancer from spreading, and saving chemo as an option if/when it decides to grow more aggresively.

 

NOT SO GOOD NEWS: Many of you may not be aware that in addition to my eyes, I also have lymphoma in my throat, neck and chin. On Monday (7/20) I had surgery to remove a growth from within my mouth. It's been sent to the pathologist's to determine whether or not it's malignant. If it is, that's not so good because it'd be melanoma and not lymphoma, and the immunotherapy only works on lymphoma. The pathology report will be back today.

 

GOOD NEWS, IF: The side effects of immunotherapy aren't nearly as bad as chemo, and if the results of the pathology report are negative, I will be at the opener!! WOO-HOO!

 

OTHER NOT SO GOOD NEWS: The type of lymphoma I have is very difficult to kill. Right now my oncologists agree that the best course of action is to try to keep it in check. I'm not too thrilled with living the rest of my life knowing I have cancer, but it sure beats not living the rest of my life! :doh:

 

MY LAST LAMP: I just started a blog (CampysWorld.com) that will allow me to type stuff once and people who are interested (family, inlaws, TBD friends, local friends, et al) can just surf on over there. It will sure be a lot easier than trying to remember who I called, emailed, PM'd, etc, and then trying to remember what my situation was the last time I communicated with them. Besides, it will allow me to stop posting these LAMPS (I don't mind other's LAMPS, I just don't like them to be about me!).

 

Don't get me wrong, I'll still be harrassing all of you lunkheads from time-to-time, especially after training camp is well underway. In the meantime, if you have a question, feel free to to PM me, but all of my health updates will be on my blog. Later today I'll post the results of the biopsy on it (keep your fingers crossed!).

 

Again, to those of you I've met and to those of you I've yet to meet, I sincerely thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.

 

 

-Chris

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Since Campy's site also allows you to post comments in his blog, it might be nice to include your thoughts there so that his entire circle of family and friends can share in the well wishes of his Bills brothers and sisters...

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at this stage in your life is there anything in your lifestyle that you wish you could change looking back on life i.e smoking, drinking etc? Basically trying to get a viewpoint on whether certain lifestyle habits may have had anythingto do with the cancer.

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Chris, you will be in our prayers. I sure hope to see you this year @ the opener. If all goes well, maybe we both can get through this one w/out any medical care. No hernias, no sprained knees (damn fence!), and, most importantly, no cancer!!

 

God bless you.

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at this stage in your life is there anything in your lifestyle that you wish you could change looking back on life i.e smoking, drinking etc?  Basically trying to get a viewpoint on whether certain lifestyle habits may have had anythingto do with the cancer.

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That's a good question, thanks for asking.

 

I started smoking about 20 years ago, generally about a pack a day. Over the past 18 months I've been more an "off-again" than an "on-again" smoker. Since learning of my lymphoma a few months back, I'm most certainly a non-smoker now. I've always been a social drinker - I drink probably once or twice a month on average, except during football season (damn Bills!).

 

No question that smoking isn't a healthy practice, but it doesn't appear to be related to my current situation. Research has found that lymphoma is genetic and that the capability of having one's B-cells rapidly multiply exists within all of us. According to my oncologist, there is no environmental factor that triggers lymphoma, ie, exposure to traditional carcinogens like cigarette smoke, certain chemicals, etc.

 

Lymphoma is just one of those things that seemed to pop up and get me.

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