Two Steps Backward, One Step Forward

Late last week, Adrienne told me that she had new lymph nodes in the same location as last January when her relapse was confirmed. As you might recall, her last PET scan in June showed some active disease in that area but nothing was palpable or even growing at that time so we decided to continue with the treatment plan. After several sleepless nights and a few tears, I decided to fly down a day early to spend some time with Adrienne and then visit with the docs at City of Hope.

We met with a radiation oncologist who actually took a class from Adrienne's doctor while in school. Small world. He felt sure that Adrienne could receive more radiation to the sites where she has disease and that she can get a large enough dosage to potentially be curative. Plus, this doctor believes that Adrienne's relapse is in areas that received little or no radiation previously. They were able to squeeze Adrienne in for the setup, and she begins her treatments next Monday. They need radiation films from Stanford and the results of a PET scan scheduled on Thursday in order to confirm the treatment. We all feel better knowing that we're being proactive and have a promising option. Adrienne can have the radiation while continuing the donor lymphocyte infusions. Her next one is on Friday.

Adrienne will need to have radiation daily for 3-5 weeks, depending on the dosage they decide to give her. The local American Cancer Society provides free rides for treatment, and they will be able to take her to and from her appointments. We were thinking of taking her car to her but the stress of driving in LA traffic might be a bit much.

Adrienne is very excited: she got the research institute job she wanted. She is now officially a research assistant at the Kravis Leadership Institute, which studies and sponsors leadership programs at Claremont McKenna as well as other colleges. She can work as little or as much as she likes, which is perfect. She always tells me what she's doing but doesn't say a lot about how she feels about it. When I asked her how she likes CMC, she said, "I love it" with a big smile.