Wouldn't you know it? As soon as I write how well Adrienne is doing, some of her Hodgkin's symptoms have returned including the itching and wheezing. It isn't awful right now but definitely there. At least the cough has improved. She took the Atarax for the itching last night and slept past noon today. Usually it calms things down for a little while so we hope that's the case this time. In the meantime, she's keeping busy finishing off the semester and planning the summer.
After a few hiccups getting records to the Nevada Cancer Institute, they have almost everything they need. Luckily I had collected some recent records for MD Anderson so I was able to fax those over. They still need some information about the clinical trials Adrienne did in New York but we should be good to go for Adrienne's appointment on May 21. At a visit to NCI today with our friend Karen, I saw Dr. Dang and am really excited for him to take care of her and Karen. I was very impressed with how familiar he is with her case already and feel totally at ease with him. He has a wonderful bedside manner and is extremely knowledgeable about lymphoma. I wish I had known about him when my dad was sick as he specializes in the type of lymphoma he had (T cell lymphoma) and has saved many lives.
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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.
2 comments:
I'm glad you've found a doctor you like, and that the logistics are working out. I hope A's symptoms are soon controlled . . . hope things continue well.
Karen, Clare's mom
I hope Adrienne gets thru these lil symptoms and has a good meeting in a few weeks. I'm glad you went with Karen for her appointment, I haven't talked to her in a month or so because I'm so exhausted when I get home from work and the darn time difference... anywho send her and Adrienne my love!
XO
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