Adrienne had her 10th chemo yesterday, just two more to go. She felt pretty awful yesterday afterwards and ran a low grade fever last night. This morning, she has no fever but is feeling pretty "yucky." The side effects get worse with each chemo so she's happy to be almost finished.
Adrienne had one of her favorite nurses yesterday. Jessica has been studying for her masters degree in nursing and working only on Fridays. She just finished school so she's working other days now too until September, when she has a baby. She's a tiny little girl, a full five inches shorter than Adrienne, and she's always been so nice to Adrienne. We were happy to see her back.
We've had a bit of trouble scheduling the next few weeks but things seem to be working out now. Adrienne's doctor will be on vacation when she has her scans and her next chemo wasn't scheduled until we get the results. Yesterday, he agreed that we should go ahead and schedule the last two chemos and we'll talk when he gets back. Generally, I don't like to wait for test results and he's really good about calling me as soon as the results are ready.
After a small amount of hassle, Adrienne is now set with a doctor at City of Hope when she goes to college. I had spoken with them in 2002 before we decided to go to Seattle so they already had most of her records and history. When I spoke with the nurse practioner there and mentioned that Adrienne was going to CMC, she said "congratulations" enthusiastically. Adrienne's doc talked with the doc there, who said "wow, she must be really smart to be going to CMC." We all knew that. Just to give you an idea, CMC received nearly 4,000 applications for 270 freshman openings and gives just 30 of the McKenna Achievement Awards, which Adrienne won.
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Adrienne was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease in 1996 at age 9. She had multiple relapses, two bone marrow transplants, and a range of chemos and radiation therapies, and passed away on October 1, 2009. We are heartbroken.
Out with the Girls
About Adrienne
- Adrienne
- Adrienne was very much like others with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the most common cancer in teens and young adults. What was unusual is that she had it for more than half her life and ultimately, it took her life. Hodgkin's is curable for about 80% people, but Adrienne was one of the 20% for whom a cure was elusive. She considered herself lucky since treatments had been there for her with each relapse but she ran out of treatment options and her body just couldn’t take any more. As she said, "Though I’ve now had cancer for most of my life, I no longer plan my life around it; instead, I try to plan cancer around my life." We hope you can take inspiration from her and how she lived her life.
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