We finally connected with Adrienne's oncologist today. He's on vacation this week but called from his car. He'd like for Adrienne to try another clinical trial with a drug that's been in the news a lot recently called ABT-263. The trial excludes people who have had transplants but he thinks he can get a waiver since her graft and her blood counts are so good. The next week will be spent in preparations and waiting for the last drug to get out of her system. One big benefit of ABT-263 is that it's an oral drug so she won't need to take the time for an infusion. The cycles are also shorter so she'll be able to finish two cycles and have scans in six weeks rather than eight. Hopefully she won't need another bone marrow biopsy for this one.
We went to the medical center for labs today and, afterwards, we stopped at Columbia University to see the dorm and campus. Wow, it's amazing. Columbia has that beautiful "ivy league" feel with big impressive buildings and people everywhere. The classrooms and offices are centered around a huge grassy area with statues, and the dorms are like regular New York apartment buildings. Within a short walk of the dorms and campus, there are restaurants and cafes, book stores, and shops all catering to college students. It's quite a change from CMC with about 1,000 students (and also a lot more beauracratic as we're discovering). We hope she likes it as she loves living in New York and wants to stay as long as necessary for treatment.
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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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