Diagnosis

Friday morning, the results from Pathology came in/back/whatever. 

I called Dr. McCann's office, he called me, we played phone tag. Finally we talked around 12:30-1:00. He told that it's Hodgkin's Lymphoma, recommended an oncologist, told me he thought I'd really like him, that his office is at the UVRMC hospital in Provo, I could go to SLC if I want, there are other oncologists at Utah Central Clinic, etc. etc. etc. 

I was worried about insurance switching when (now if, of course) Patrick goes to training. But I'm pretty sure Dr. Rich, the oncologist he recommended, is A-okay for that predicament. 

Anyway, so he personally called Dr. Rich. Then I called Dr. Rich's office around 4-4:30 because I hadn't heard anything yet. I was afraid he wouldn't call me back before the end of the business day and I would have to wait all weekend to find things out. 

Not so.

Just as I was texting my friend, saying that he hadn't called me and doesn't he know he's in the business of people and whatnot, he called me. It was 6:48pm (I only know that because I looked at my phone). We talked for about 40 minutes. The following is a summary of what we talked about. It's all the info I have so far. 

Adrienne’s Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Info -- HIGHLY curable

Doctor’s office (Dr. Rich) 8013578200

So here’s the plan…

3 tests over the next week or just into the second week: echo cardiogram (for my heart... a very rare side-effect is heart damage), PET scan (inject me with something that will make all the cancer cells glow.. or something like that), bone marrow biopsy (that one's pretty obvious. they have conscious sedation for that. I'll totally be taking advantage of that). From those tests we will find out what stage it’s in and what exact kind of chemo to do. Above diaphragm is Stage 1 or 2. Below it is Stage 3, in bone marrow is Stage 4.

Meeting with Dr. Rich on Jan 30-31, to discuss what the plan exactly is and when we start everything. As long as all the tests results are back…

I will start chemo in the next 2-3 weeks. I will lose my hair within a week or two after that. It won’t grow back for NINE MONTHS. It takes about a year for it to be an inch long.

I will do chemo for 6 months total, and a PET scan after 4 months (routine procedure).

During chemo… my immune system will go down after 5-6 days after a chemo treatment, then go back up right before the next treatment. But if I wash my hands and take care of myself and stuff, then I should be just fine. Go a little farther on the hygiene and I shouldn’t have a problem. I’ll be doing 3 hours in an IV once a month. I am likely to feel fatigued and get more and more fatigued as we go along. I might feel nauseous too – about what my morning sickness was like.

I’ll get anti-nausea meds while I’m at chemo and then have a prescription to have at home and use as needed.

I’ll get a prescription for an antibiotic. Then if I get sick, I’ll call in to the doctor, and if I need to use it, I already have it on hand.

Because it’s classified as “bulky” (it’s 11 cm FYI), after 6 months of chemo, I’ll take one month off and then do radiation for a month. About 6 weeks later, I’ll start to feel better.

The drugs are AVBV or something. And they have different side effects. The main side effects are just being tired. Like getting up from the couch and then feeling like whew, I’m going to sit back down.

Fewer side effects when you are active. Working is definitely possible – it all kind of depends on how fatigued and nauseous I become from the treatment. It’s better for me to keep a “normal” life.

Oh, and more susceptible to sunburns while on chemo. And possible fertility problems, but not necessarily.

→ Look into whether or not Patrick HAS to go to training and deploy because I’ll be having chemo and whatnot.

All in all, it will be about 9-10 months of treatment and a year before I feel back to myself, though I may actually be at about 80% and it may take another year until I’m 95-100% back to feeling like my normal self.

So, pretty much, it freaking sucks. :)

We are doing well, I suppose. It has been an emotional roller coaster of a weekend. And it is exhausting telling everyone. So I'm trying to get as much of that taken care of at the same time so that I'm not exhausted for days and days.... just a few days. haha

I unintentionally told my Relief Society before I taught today. I couldn't hold it together. Once I told them, I was fine and could move on with the lesson. Church was hard. I cried a few times. It's a very spiritual place full of spiritual people and the Spirit is so strong there. 

So anyway, that's that for now.