On Monday, our friend Alese passed away due to respiratory complications resulting from her Hodgkin's Disease treatment. Alese was diagnosed in 2002 and since then had a story similar to Adrienne's. In the past months, her disease became very aggressive and she tried very difficult chemos to get it under control. Those chemos suppressed her immune system so much that she got a fungal infection that ultimately took her life. Our prayers go out to Alese and her family.
Adrienne had her CT scan yesterday and we got the results last night, not exactly what we hoped to hear. The tumors in her abdomen and spleen are stable but the one in her lung showed a fair amount of progression. It is now nearly 3 cm. We've asked the doctors at City of Hope and in NY to come up with a new plan to start when she goes to NY. There are a number of options on the table but we probably won't know which one she'll do for a couple of weeks.
Adrienne is feeling well except for being tired, but that's probably because she doesn't get enough sleep as a busy college student. Emotionally, it's very hard for all of us living from scan to scan. With Erika and Alese's deaths under very similar circumstances, we are staying particularly vigilant and wary of treatments that are just too risky. We definitely don't want to go with "big guns" chemo and are looking for something that will keep her disease under control with a minimum of side effects.
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Hi, I'm from the Hodgkin's Board. I wanted to say that I really liked your post, and agree with it. There aren't many people on there who seem to think that way.
We just are no longer willing to sacrifice her life for the minute chance that something might cure her. Honestly, we'd rather have her for 5-10 years being healthy than a year or two of immense suffering hoping that something might cure her.
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