Adrienne had her first DLI today. After she got her exam and premeds (and fell asleep), we found out that Daniel's blood culture from the lymphocyte collection grew a bacteria that is very hard to treat. It responds to only one antibiotic, called vancomycin. They ran additional cultures that were negative, but just to be safe, Adrienne has to get two days of IV antibiotics at home. In the past, she had a reaction to the drug called red man's syndrome where you basically turn all red. So, she has to get the drug over two hours rather than one. She got the first dose today at the hospital and will get it every 12 hours at home for the next two days. Otherwise, the donor lymphocyte infusion took place without incident.
Adrienne smells a bit from the DMSO they use to preserve the cells but is feeling fine otherwise. Now we just watch and wait. Assuming that she doesn't get any GVHD, the next DLI is scheduled for August 22.
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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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