Its been a quiet week as I wanted Ray to rest and let his drug work.

He has been good and took life easy but he has no side effects so it is looking good and that his treatment like mine isn’t going to interfere with our day to day work.

Lots of computer work and telephone calls have kept us busy and the sun has shone all week. February and we have had weather like Spain, how amazing is that. Walking Lou has been pleasant.

We collected the new car and Whitstable Harbour Garage has been wonderful as usual. We all rely on them around here and we usually get a smashing logo put on the back but the have stopped doing that now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We travelled to Canterbury on Friday for Rays treatment. The surprise was the nurses singing happy birthday to him and giving him a present. That bought a great big grin to his face.

His treatment was put in faster this week so it was better. We met a couple of friends that we meet up with at our LASAG meet. A lovely Mesowarrior and his wife. His treatment was longer than ours so we came away earlier. Ray slept most of the time as the histamine tends to do that to him but it’s not a bad thing really as the day goes even quicker.

For non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody, which is a type of targeted drug.
Rituximab is a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and some types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It is also used for some non cancer related illnesses.
You usually start by having rituximab once a week for 4 weeks. You may have treatment every 3 weeks if you have the rituximab with other medicines.
You often have rituximab with CHOP chemotherapy to make R-CHOP. You usually have 8 of the treatments, so the treatment lasts 6 months.But Ray is having the drug on its own so just 4 weeks.
If the initial treatment works well, you may then go on to have further rituximab treatment as maintenance therapy. You have this treatment every 2 or 3 months for 2 years.

Rituximab targets a protein called CD20 on the surface of the leukaemia and lymphoma cells. The antibody sticks to all the CD20 proteins it finds. Then the cells of the immune system pick out the marked cells and kill them.

So it all seems straight forward Except he has a very slow heartbeat. He could be super fit ???? or there is a reason and he has been told to go to see his GP Generally, you want a slow heart rate when you’re resting. It’s a sign of good health. But if it’s too slow, it could be a symptom of a condition called bradycardia.
Normally, your heart beats 60 to 100 times a minute when you’re at rest. But with bradycardia, it goes down to less than 60 beats a minute.
This might not cause a problem for some people. But it could be a clue that you have an issue with the electrical system in your heart. You need to see a doctor who can figure out why it’s beating slowly and if you should get treatment.
Heart Basics
Electrical signals travel through the heart’s four chambers — two on the top called the atria and below them, the two ventricles. These signals prompt it to beat in a steady rhythm. But pulses don’t always fire off as they should.
This creates what’s called arrhythmias, or abnormal heartbeats.
Some conditions cause the heart to beat too fast or to flutter. With bradycardia, it’s the opposite. The electrical problem slows down the time in between heartbeats.

We are going to wait until he has finished treatment as Ray feels he is going through enough at the moment.

I do agree.

He came home and he came over all funny again. Shivering so I said BED!!! which he did and felt so much better laying flat. He slept well all night and felt so good the next day.

We have relaxed all weekend and now ready for me to go to the Royal Marsden.