We were hoping for a totally clean PET scan yesterday. What we got was termed a "warm" PET scan. The disease in Adrienne's hip has resolved but there is a 4 mm node with moderate uptake in the chest. This is too small to diagnose, but having been down this road before, we can be pretty sure that this is Hodgkin's Disease that will grow larger over time. Adrienne's doctor at Stanford advised us to wait four months and repeat the scans. Adrienne doesn't feel comfortable waiting that long (nor do we) so we are sending the scans to City of Hope for a second opinion. We aren't sure what kind of treatment would be appropriate but we are looking at chemos (hopefully oral) that have minimal side effects to keep her disease under control. Our wish is that some of the research with monoclonal antibodies and radioimmunotherapy will come to fruition in the next year or two.
Besides the doctor visits, we had a good trip back to the Bay Area visiting with friends and even seeing my sister before her family's trip to London (they arrived safely the morning of the arrests). Even with yesterday's events in London, our flight home was only delayed by 30 minutes and the security line at the airport was very short. We had taken carry on bags but checked them for the trip home because, of course, we had shampoo, creams, and the like. It was kind of funny being at baggage claim with three times as many people as usual. We saw several very small bags (probably toiletry kits and the like) coming off the turnstyle looking very out of place.
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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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