Jason's Care for lymphoma

This is my best friend, loving husband, Jason Lee. Back in January 3rd, his workplace called for an ambulance due to him having stroke like symptoms. After many tests in the ER, they found he had a head bleed. But that wasn't it. They discovered he had issues with his blood count. After a long stay at Geisinger Wyoming Valley, they discovered he had Stage IV T cell Lymphoma with CNS involvement. The rarest rare of cancer. Dr "Bob", the hospitalist on the Oncology floor pulled me to the side and told me this is very critical as most patients with this tend to live for only 5 months after being this far along. This was a punch to my gut as the world seemed to collapse around me. I had to spend time in the public bathroom to cry as I couldn't bare to do it in front of my best friend. So much whirled around my mind of what I could do or what needed to be done. There was so much. We weren't the type to ask for help. We always just took care of ourselves. Of course if a friend asked for our help were definitely there for them, but always thought we were a bother if we asked for help. Especially financially.

After his discharge, we were referred to Dr Brady to see what needed to be done to either buy some time or what could help. He referred us to work with Dr Barta down at Penn Med. Dr Barta is actually the expert with this type of cancer and wrote many articles on how to treat this type of cancer. His many suggestions did help Dr Brady try to get us on track. Of course, we had issues with pre authorizations with the insurance, but fate would have us go down another path. Dr Barta suggested getting a port put in his head so they didn't have to keep doing lumbar punctures to keep injecting the chemo to help with the CNS involvement. The neurosurgeon Dr Martinez Perez was very good along with his team. They place the head port and Dr Brady began to put the chemo in it. This helped shrink the three lesions Jason had in his head. They believe the big one in the front was the cause of the head bleed. Jason continued to do IV chemo therapy so he could be prepped for a bone marrow transplant by Dr Lynch.

Once his T cells were decreased in numbers Jason went under bone marrow transplant. Thankfully, we had a very nice donor from Germany that happily donated his bone marrow as they believe if Jason used his own then the cancer may just come back. Dr Lynch's team, Janice, Laura and Josh PA were always on the ball about things. Even the time Jason had a platelet allergic reaction, they were on top of it. Jason had to do three days, twice a day of radiation to kill of his bone marrow so they could start fresh with the donor's. On the fourth day, the did IV bone marrow thru a special tri-port that he had to have place prior to 7/22. It only took a day to do so. Then he had to remain in the hospital for almost a month so they can give him medications, transfusions and anything else. The worst side effect he got was the mouth sores. One provider even said he looked like a burned victim when he looked in his mouth. He lost weight due to not being able to eat because of the mouth sores. He mostly drank his nutrients. I stayed home during the week to be able to continue to work 40 hours a week so we still have an income after his unemployment dried up. On the weekends, I went to visit him and stayed at a very lovely place called The House of Care in Danville. The Geisinger Hospital in Danville was just across the parking lot from the House of Care so it was very convenient and affordable. Everyone was super nice on the floors and I tried to make sure he ate and moved around to keep the swelling down. A few times they had to give him Lasix because he kept retaining fluids.

After he was discharged, he got to ring the bell of finishing his treatments. We didn't have to worry about setting up appointments as Janet and Laura were on top of all the appointments we needed for his after care. Every time he had an issue, they made sure he was referred to the right specialists to get it treated right away. Nothing was too small or insufficient to them. They have become friends to us and always love laughing with them. Jason is about 116 days post bone marrow transplant. Right now we're only on my paycheck and his disability check. Both aren't really a whole lot as I started using credit cards to pay for things such as gas, food, copays and anything else that comes up. Before all of this, we were remodeling our place but now with this diagnosis, everything has halted. For a while, we had a leaky roof, thankfully a fellow good friend and coworker helped sealed some leaks. We still have a long road ahead and everything given would be greatly appreciated. It would be used mostly for Jason's medical needs, gas, food and anything he needs to stay comfortable with going thru post bone marrow transplant. Please consider helping us. I couldn't think of living my life without him as we've been together for 22 years and married 13 years.

Jason is a big lover of animals. We share our home with our furbabies, kitties. Before all of this, we used to rescue strays and get them medical care and neutered/spay before adopting them out. We always made sure that the animal never suffered. During this time, we're unable to continue such care so unfortunately we had to turn away any strays that were dumped around our home. Jason isn't the type to sit around as he always prefer to do something. Right now he's going nuts not being able to do too much due to not getting sick or infection.

Thank you for reading and please consider in helping us. Thank you again.