Bill’s Treatment Log – 2026

Not sure of next update date. Will depend on how I respond to CAR-T infusion.

June 30, 2026

Checked into hospital yesterday. Had the CAR-T cells transferred back to my body today. I feel fine, which is expected. The reaction to the cells is likely to start on Thursday (July 2).

Inpatient life is hard. Room is fine. Nurses are great. But, they need to take my vitals every 4 hours (for the entire time I’m here). They draw my blood once a day at about 4:00AM. I’m always connected to fluids on an IV stand. There are also about 1000 other little annoying details. It’s all manageable, but it will make the stay go slowly.

June 27, 2026

Completed two days of chemotherapy on Thursday (June 25) and Friday (June 26).

The procedure was easier than last year. Once I was connected, it only took about 2 hours.

Side effects have been relatively minor. Headache. Some stomach discomfort. Lots of fatigue.

I get to rest now for a few days. I’ll get admitted to the hospital on Monday, June 29, and the CAR-T infusion will be sometime on Tuesday, June 30. Then the fun begins.

June 19, 2026

Uneventful week, so, I thought I’d share some metrics. They show how treatment of a major health issue is almost like having a part-time or full-time job. 

These numbers reflect my health care since November 2024, when my cancer was first identified:

• 107 medical appointments 
• 55 message threads in MyChart
• 6 rounds of chemo
• 15 rounds of radiation 
• 2 surgeries 
• 11 PETs, CATs, MRIs, Ultrasounds and Echocardiograms
• 5 oncologists
• ~ 45 blood draws and IVs
• ~ 30 people have palpated, operated on, radiated or examined my genitals
• $377,796 charged by Blue Cross to my medical providers
• $971 charged to us as out of pocket expenses

But it’s not all bad…

• 100+ “Get Well” cards received
• Dozens of gifts and free meals provided
• 1000s of prayers submitted
• Immeasurable support from friends/family
• 1 week spent in Switzerland, 7 weeks in Italy, and 2 in the US Virgin Islands
• 1 Camino completed

Shirley’s cousin, Leslie, gave me this coffee mug. I use it to store all my hospital bracelets. Most appointments don’t require them. From what I can tell, they are given whenever I’m going to have something invasive done like surgery, or have something injected into me like chemo, anesthesia, or contrast for scans.

June 11, 2026

Project “Healthy Pilgrim” is now underway. Project plan details:

• June 23 – Preparatory doctor visits for CAR-T immunotherapy
• June 25 – Chemotherapy #1 (Lymphodepletion)
• June 26 – Chemotherapy #2 (Lymphodepletion)
• June 29 – Admission to Mott Children’s Hospital (includes PICC line insertion)
• June 30 – Infusion of modified cells
• June 30 to July ? – Close monitoring by hospital staff
• July 14 – Earliest possible date I could be released from hospital
• July 31 – End of “close monitoring”

Q: Why Mott Children’s Hospital?

Due to some historic space shortages, the 7th floor of Mott is home to the Bone Marrow Transplant and Leukemia department that will be overseeing my treatment.

Q: Why do you have to be in the hospital for 14 or more days?

The reaction to the cell infusion can be pretty drastic and requires quick response by health professionals. The first two weeks are especially risky. If I have no ongoing symptoms after 10 days, I’ll be allowed to go home. Otherwise, I’ll stay on as long as necessary.

Note, patients in this area of the hospital have highly compromised immune systems, so visitation is restricted.

Q: What is “close monitoring” after you leave the hospital?

For about 3 weeks after I am released, I will have to have someone home with me 24×7. They will need to do frequent visual checks, and respond quickly if symptoms flare up suddenly.

Our plan is for Shirley and my sister, Ann, to be the primary caregivers during this time. I’m sure others will help out as well. We’re going to install a few video cameras around the houses, so if I’m sleeping or working in my office, Shirley can monitor me remotely. Isn’t she lucky?

Again, I’ll have a highly compromised immune system, so I’ll be maintaining a relatively small “bubble” of people with whom I interact.

Q: After the “close monitoring,” then what?

Recovery. My immune system will be very depleted. It could take several months to get to a level that will allow me to go out in public or interact with a lot of people. My best guess is that life will start looking a little more normal in October, that said, my immune system will be less than ideal forever, so I’m always going to have to be careful of infection going forward.

Funny thing, my treatment will be over on June 30 when the cells are installed, so everything else after that is just letting the cells work, and recovery.

June 10, 2026

Rough week.

It turns out that the burning from radiation treatment is worst 1-2 weeks after you complete treatment. I completed treatment about 2 weeks ago, and sure enough, 1 week ago, the pain from the burning increased significantly.

For about 5 days, I couldn’t walk or sit comfortably. I spent most of last weekend laying on the couch or in bed. Fortunately, I was down in Raleigh with the family, so that helped take my mind off of it.

As of today, the pain is back to the “annoying” level, and I think it should heal completely in the next few days. Glad that’s behind me.

June 3, 2026

Challenging day. Apheresis process to harvest my T-cells. It took about 6 hours, I could barely move the whole time, and my arm was in quite a bit of pain. The day went very slowly. The cell harvest went well though, and there are no side effects (other than a black-and-blue arm). So all is good.

Now I have 3.5 weeks with no treatment. We’re using this opportunity to take a long weekend in Raleigh to visit Abbey.

Some of you might be wondering “What about that bump on your neck?” The doctors think it’s lymphoma, but the lead oncologist on the next phase of treatment thinks our best strategy is to avoid more chemo, and get to the immunotherapy as soon and as healthy as possible. (Chemo would undermine both of those goals.). I’m not complaining about skipping chemo.

I’ll try to post an update in a week or so, but there probably won’t be a ton of news. Although, whenever I say that, cancer finds a way of messing with me.

May 29, 2026

I completed radiation this week. I’m happy it’s over, the irritation of the skin is becoming annoying. Hopefully, it will heal up in a few days.

Yesterday, I had a CT scan on the bump that I mentioned in last week’s update. Haven’t heard from the doctor yet about the results. I presume I’ll hear early next week. My guess is that I’ll need a biopsy then maybe some chemo. TBD.

Wednesday is the next big milestone… aphaeresis. We arrive at 8:00AM, and I expect to be hooked up to the machine for up to 6 hours. I’ll have an IV in both arms, so no moving around. If I need to use the restroom, I will have to use a bed pan. Cancer specializes in taking away your dignity.

The Radiation Oncology Clinic has a rock garden at its entrance. Patients and their families paint rocks with messages of hope, and place them in the garden. To celebrate the completion of my treatments, I added my own. Probably not hard to guess which one is mine. Photos below.

May 22, 2026

Cancer doesn’t follow a project plan. Just when I thought I knew the schedule, things have been tossed up in the air. Here’s the lowdown…

I learned this week that my first CAR-T cell draw (aphaeresis) is scheduled for June 3. This means I get to skip some chemo. It also means I could be done with treatment and monitoring by the end of July. The end of the tunnel is within sight.

But, cancer has decided to alter the project plan…

I’ve developed a small bump on my scalp behind my ear. I had it examined today. The doctor called it “suspicious.” So, now, I get a CT Scan next Thursday. If that shows lymphoma (which I’m guessing it will), then the treatment plan will have to change. The whole schedule could be blown up. I hope to know by next Friday. I’ll post an update when I do know.

While this drama proceeds, I continue with radiation treatment. I’ve completed 12 of 15. I’ll finish next week. Unfortunately, I am getting some irritation at the sight of the treatment (I’m trying to use the word “scrotum” less so my website doesn’t get blocked). The irritation is annoying, but not terrible. I hope it stays that way.

May 15, 2026

It was a pretty uneventful week.  I had 5 sessions of radiation. (Photo of radiation treatment room above.)

These sessions are very easy. U-M has a flat parking lot right next to the Radiation Oncology department only for use by patients. There is always free parking available.  So you just pull right in and walk into the reception area.

Once I get there, the process is very quick:

• Sign-in on a kiosk computer
• Change into scrubs in a changing room
• Wait for a couple minutes in waiting room
• Spend about 3-5 minutes on a table. Most of that time is positioning of my body by the radiation therapists.  (Only about 15 seconds is actually radiation.)
• Change back into my clothes and leave

Most days this takes 15-20 minutes.

I think the hardest part of the whole thing is driving to/from the hospital.

As for side effects. None yet. Fatigue can set in after a couple of weeks, and burning or irritation on the treatment location can also occur. Since my dosage is relatively low, I’m hoping neither of these will be problems.

Five more sessions next week. Then 3 after Memorial Day. After that, we’ll move onto the next phase of treatment. I should know those details next week.

May 9, 2026

On Monday, I had six appointments at the hospital (a new Wrobleski record). Most were tests (heart, lung, blood, veins) to make sure I’m physically ready for immunotherapy.

On Thursday and Friday, I had my first radiation treatments. The process is painless, except for the ego. There is no dignified way to have your scrotum radiated, so you just have to smile and give up any sense of privacy.

There is a Camino saying… “A bad day for the ego is a good day for the soul.” Well, my soul is thriving.

I have 13 more radiation appointments to go. Tentatively, I’ll finish on May 29

Right now, I expect to start the immunotherapy process in early June. If that’s the case, I get to skip some chemotherapy which is a big win. I’ll know more about that in a couple of weeks.

Generally, I feel 100%. None of the treatments I’ve had so far have been debilitating in any way. I’ve been walking, golfing and going to the gym. The only issue has been low grade headaches from the chemo they injected into my spine a few weeks ago. Tylenol makes it go away, but it’s painful if I cough or sneeze. Shirley says “don’t cough or sneeze.”

FYE…. My hair never fully came in after last year’s treatment, and recently I started to lose a little from the spinal chemo, so I decided to shave it all off. I gave Abbey the honors. She had a cruel and evil laugh most of the time she was doing it. Photo above.

April 28, 2026

Today, we learned a lot from my oncologist about my CAR-T immunotherapy treatment.

I won’t go into all the medical details, but here’s my projected treatment schedule (this is tentative and could easily change):

Week of May 4 … Start radiation. Undergo several CAR-T tests and consultations (e.g., heart, lungs, social work). These tests are necessary to make sure I’m physically and mentally able to go through CAR-T, and are required for me to get insurance approval.

Last week of May… Radiation treatment complete.

Early June… Blood draw (collection of T-cells) for CAR-T. The T-cells are then sent to a lab which will take 2-3 weeks to genetically alter them.

June … 1 round of chemotherapy. This is a “bridging” treatment between radiation and CAR-T. If the calendar works out right, I might be able to skip this. That would be cool, but worst case it’s just 1 round of chemo, rather than the 3 that I expected.

Late June… the genetically-modified cells are put back in my body. This includes 2 days of chemo, about 10 days of inpatient time, and 3 weeks of additional close medical monitoring.

August, September … Recovery. Many patients are fatigued for about 8 weeks after the cells are infused, and immune system will take a few months to recover.

After that… I can mostly get on with life, although my immune system will be about 75% as good as it used to be, so I’m going to have to be careful to avoid getting sick. Mask wearing and hand washing will become pretty standard for me for the rest of my life.

Some of the side effects the doctors discussed with us are a little daunting, but generally this was all very good news. It will take less time, involve less treatment and have a higher success rate than I thought it would. It won’t be easy, but it could definitely be a lot worse.

I had a record 14 vials of blood drawn as part of this consultation. They need to do a ton of tests to make sure I’m eligible for this treatment. Photo of vials above.

April 23, 2026

We met with Radiation Oncology to learn about the radiation treatment I will be undergoing.

I will have 15 sessions (5 a week for 3 weeks). I expect the first one to be May 4, which means my last session should be May 22.

The best news was that the doses will be very low, which means that the common side effects (fatigue and burning of skin) are unlikely to bother me, or will be relatively light.

I also learned that my testicle should still function normally during and after treatment. I had been worried that it would stop producing testosterone, which would have its own negative side effects, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

The only bad news that I received was that I will become sterile from the treatment. This, of course, means Shirley and I will not be having any more children. I had hoped we would have two more children to replace our two existing ungrateful children, but I guess we’re stuck.

We meet with two more doctors next week for more consultations on treatment. After those are complete, we hope to have a pretty good idea of the schedule of treatment for the summer.

April 17, 2026

Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) was performed in the morning. Chemotherapy (Methotrexate) was injected into my spinal fluid as a prophylactic treatment in case there is lymphoma in the spinal fluid.

It sounds a lot worse than it was. So far, no pain, just a little brain fog.

I got the results of the procedure in the afternoon. No lymphoma was found in the spinal fluid. Great news.

Over the next two weeks, I have consultations with the providers that will be overseeing the next phases of my treatment. After those meetings, my treatment schedule should be much clearer.

April 14, 2026

I had an MRI of my brain to check to see if there are any signs of lymphoma there.

The results came back the same day. Good news. I have a totally normal brain (no snarky comments). No indicators of any disease.

April 13, 2026

Met with my oncologist and he went over the treatment plan. He started our meeting by saying “our plan is to cure this.” I like the sound of that.

Since my lymphoma returned in my testicle that increases the possibility of it appearing in my brain, spinal cord and other testicle. Therefore, he is proposing a multi-faceted response to ensure we attack the lymphoma in all of these places (as well as the rest of my body):

1. MRI of brain to make sure lymphoma is not there.
2. Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to make sure lymphoma is not in the spinal fluid.
3. While they’re in the spinal cord, inject some chemotherapy into the spinal fluid. This way, if there is lymphoma, we avoid having to do another spinal tap right away.
4. Use radiation on my remaining testicle. This will be 3-4 weeks of daily appointments. This should kill any lymphoma that may be there.
5. Go through 2-3 cycles of chemotherapy (High Dosage Methotrexate). This is a “bridging” therapy until the final therapy (#6 below) can occur. For each chemo session, I will have to be in the hospital 1-3 days.
6. Go through CAR T-Cell therapy. This treatment takes a few months and it will attack the lymphoma across my body. This is a complex process. First, they take my T-Cells from my blood. Then, they genetically modify those cells in a lab. Finally, the modified cells are re-introduced into my body. The modified cells are designed to attack the cancer cells, but unfortunately, they attack some good cells too.
7. Reaction to the modified T-Cells can be fairly severe, so for the first 30 days, they will monitor me very closely. For the first 7-10 days, I will need to be an inpatient. For the next few weeks, I will likely have to visit the hospital daily to be checked.
8. My immune system will be highly compromised so I will be isolated for much of this treatment. 3-4 months after the CAR-T treatment, I should be able to live a pretty normal life, although my immune system will be weak for quite a while.

Yes, this is a lot. We’re still getting our heads around it, but we’re willing to do whatever it takes to put this cancer behind us.

April 10, 2026

The biopsy results of my testicle are complete. As expected, they show the return of Large B Cell Lymphoma. I will meet with my oncologist in a few days to go over the treatment plan.

April 7, 2026

Had an orchiectomy (testicle removal) at Michigan Medicine. The procedure went very smoothly and only took about 30 minutes.

The doctor did a visual inspection of the testicle that was removed, and indicated that it looked like lymphoma. We will still wait for the lab results for the final diagnosis.

April 1, 2026

The first available PET Scan appointment at Michigan Medicine was over a month away.

My daughter works at UNC Rex hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was able to get me a PET Scan appointment for April 1. So, I flew down to Raleigh to visit her for a few days, and got a PET Scan while I was down there.

Results came back the same day. Good news, the results showed no cancerous growth except in my left testicle.

March 27, 2026

Met with doctor of Urologic Oncology to go over results of ultrasound.

Ultrasound showed several lumps. Could be lymphoma (likely), testicular cancer, or a benign tumor.

He indicated that we will need to schedule orchiectomy (removal of testicle). The biopsy of the testicle will tell us definitely what we are dealing with.

I also need a PET Scan. The PET Scan will let us know if the lymphoma is anywhere else in my body.

March 23, 2026

Had an ultrasound of my left testicle. I had noticed something unusual on the testicle, so the ultrasound will give us a better idea of what that is.