Winning Over Cancer

"That's right, and if your disease is as localized and is as early as you describe it, your odds could be slightly better."

I asked about having the NCI lymphoma protocol applied at Emory.

"Emory's an excellent medical center. But I would want to have it administered at the place where it had been developed."

Once I got to NCI , I was put on an accelerated batch of tests. "We are going to work your ass off, Mr. Jordan," one doctor teased. And they did. In two-and-a-half days, I had a spinal tap, a repeat bone marrow, constant blood work, a liver scan, a spleen scan, a brain and bone scan, a lymphangiogram (a delightful, four-hour procedure where they cut holes in your feet to find a lymph node through which they inject a dye which illuminates your lymphatic system on X-rays), physical examinations and oral histories and finally a liver biopsy which was monitored by a scope inserted into my abdomen by an incision through my belly button.

NCI confirmed the Emory diagnosis. The cancer was confined to my lymphatic system. But in addition to the mass in my upper chest, there were two nodes below my diaphragm with early signs of disease.

"Is that bad?," I asked my doctor.

"No, we'll just zap it with chemo and be sure it is gone."

The head of the medical team came in while I was eating dinner. "You have a choice, Mr. Jordan, we can begin your chemo tomorrow or wait until Monday."

"Tomorrow (Sept. 21) is your birthday," Dorothy said.

I had no intention of giving my body the weekend off while the cancer cells grew and spread.

"Let's get on with it," I said, trying to sound brave.

By random selection, it was determined that I would receive the PROMACE-CYTOBOM protocol which was being tested against another protocol in treating lymphomas. There are eight proven drugs in this protocol and each has some different and usually fatal effect on cancer cells. In the course of killing the cancer cells, they also destroy some of the body's healthy cells.