People ask me all the time how I do it. How do I handle having a daughter with cancer for so many years? While I admit to feeling sorry for us from time to time, mostly I'm thankful that Adrienne's still here with us doing a lot of the things that a normal 21 year old would do...going to school, watching movies, going shopping, and so on. Sure, it would be great to spend less time with doctors and more time feeling good, but we know so many children and adults who have died and we're extremely thankful that Adrienne is still here. I think her biggest wish is just to be normal and live a long life.
I hope you'll go to Jennifer Willey's blog (http://www.jenniferwilley.org/) and leave her message. Even though Jennifer has terrible GVHD from her allo transplant for Hodgkin's, she still is thankful for many things in her life. Her mom wrote a blog entry this weekend that I hope I never have to write.
The last few weeks have been pretty tough. It began with the bleeding and all that ensued over that week. Last week, Adrienne got quite a serious bladder infection. I found out that her urine was abnormal a few weeks ago but someone missed it and she didn't start on antibiotics until last week when she was in quite a lot of pain. The gyn who did her surgery said he put in a catheter for the procedure and that apparently made it much worse. Thankfully, she started to feel better yesterday so we hope she's able to avoid some quite unpleasant tests. Add to that, she's having some shortness of breath that needs some investigation. Sometimes it seems neverending.
At least she's enjoying school. Her psych professors are practicing psychologists who teach part time. They have many interesting patient stories and she likes that. While we were disappointed that she didn't get to go back to CMC, UNLV is turning out to be a really good experience. We also got word last week that CMC will waive one of the requirements so she should be able to graduate with honors in her major. All in all, we're still thankful.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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.
6 comments:
Hey girls! I haven't commented in a while, but I've been reading. I'm sorry it's been tough lately. We share your thankful feelings. This month marks the 9-year mark for Mike, but we live relatively normal lives and are blessed in many ways. Hopefully one day we can celebrate CURES together:)
And many people are very thankful for you, Alison - for while it would be most understandable, you don't turn in on yourself to just focus on your daughter, you look outwards and extend a hand to help others - and help them you do!
You've learned the hard way to make the most of the good days and endure the bad days......here's to all things we can be thankful for!...........Vx
Hi! I'm sorry it's been so up and down and hope all is better now. Adrienne, I also wanted to say that graduating with honors is a big deal for anyone, but to do so with all you've been through is an quite an accomplishment! Have a great rest of the week and kiss the pup for me! Janet
I hope the week has gone better for Adrienne, and that you continue to heal, Alison.
Thinking of you both, and sending peace and comfort as you continue on this road. This is one of those days where all I can say is that cancer sucks, and I wish no one I knew had to deal with it. Know that you are dealing with it with tremendous grace.
Karen, Clare's mom
I second Veronica's words. Here, here!!
Hi Alison and Adrienne: So many days, it does seem like just one thing after another....We're so glad to hear that Adrienne is starting to feel better this week; hopefully the shortness of breath will turn out to be a minor issue. Can another echocardiogram be done asap?
The weight loss problem was evident for Kirsten while she was taking MGCD0103. The good thing is that she started to re-gain weight within days of being off the drug. She did take 1000 mcg B12 every day to stimulate the appetite and also tried to eat every 2 hours or so. The weight loss seemed to us to be a loss of muscle mass, so she tried to eat more high-protein food than she would normally.
Hope you saved those puppy parts - we may need them :>)
Post a Comment