Thanks to everyone at City of Hope for pushing the paperwork through so we could get out of there relatively early yesterday. As often as Adrienne has been in the hospital, it always amazes me how hard it is to get a bed and then to get discharged. COH has a brand new, gorgeous hospital, but they were full so she got one of the older rooms in a surgical unit. Still, it was just fine (if not a little cramped) and they looked after her really well. They're doing some rotations with student nurses so it was fun talking to them. Most were a little younger than Adrienne and, after reading her history, they were amazed. It must be hard for a young person to put themselves in her shoes, to imagine being sick for so long.
But, today Adrienne looks very healthy. She still has a cough but otherwise is feeling great. She's off the cardiac meds and now has normal blood pressure, making her feel better than ever. There's a concern that she'll go into congestive heart failure but that is reversible with medication. It's not as if your heart stops working, it's just that it doesn't work well enough to support your needs. She has a great cardiologist at City of Hope and they'll take good care of her.
We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend. It's warming up here (finally) so I'm sure we'll be outside a lot. Have a great weekend!
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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.
3 comments:
so glad that adrienne is home. and hoping that you all have a very relaxing weekend.
I was hoping to see a "we're home" post...so glad there is one! Wishing you both a restful week.
We're still waiting for Lauren to come after she spent all day yesterday and the early morning hours of today celebrating being 21! Hope she's sober enough to drive home in time for company. We surprised her with a cake and balloons after the show at the theater last night. She was shocked and mortified...just like I had hoped ; )
((HUGS))
Susan
What a lovely post, Alison - great to hear you sounding so happy - only you could sound so relaxed about congestive heart failure
;0).......enjoy the warmer weather and having Adrienne around :0)..........Vx
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