I had my spinal tap this morning which was worse than my bone marrow biopsy!! I NEVER want to have one again. I am now at the point where I need to decide between the two treatment options that I have. My mind was pretty much made up before I was even given my options. But here they are. The R-CHOP or E-POCH. The R-CHOP has been the standard treatment for my type of cancer for some time now. In this scenario i would receive chemo through my port at the hospital for the first day. Then go home and take chemo drugs orally for 4 additional days. Then I would have a 2 week break and do the same thing over 6-8 times with radiation at the end of the chemo treatment. As of just last spring the E-POCH regimen has become an option. This is a more aggressive form of chemo in hopes of not having to use radiation. Radiation can cause other cancers like breast cancer later down the road as well as heart disease. With E-POCH my treatment would be inpatient. I would spend 5 days in the hospital receiving chemo into my port 24/7 continuously. Then I go home and have two weeks off and then back into the hospital and repeat this for 6-8 cycles. Radiation can be added on at the end if needed but studies have shown very impressive results with success rates in the 90 percentile range without having to use radiation. Given the two options I feel E-POCH going to be the best choice for me. Today is Thursday and I am expecting to receive a call from my doctor tomorrow with my spinal tap results. I will let him know what treatment plan I am choosing and I hope I am able to start Monday. At one point I thought a second opinion was a good idea but being at stage 4 and having a lot of symptoms I want to get started immediately. I do not want to risk any more spreading.