The battleplan

Hi everyone!

First and foremost, I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you. Your messages, notes, and gifts have been incredible, and I am so thankful to have such awesome support from such a large number of people!

Now, down to business: I had my first appointment with my U of MN health team, who I am very excited about. My Oncologist is Dr. Bruce Peterson, who came highly regarded from a variety of different family friends and doctors in the area, so I'm confident that I have one of the best doctors around to attack this thing head on.

The good news is that his recommendation was pretty much aligned with that of NYU: Stage IIA, which will require 6 months of chemotherapy (each infusion will be every two weeks), and with no radiation (phew!). Radiation used to be the gold standard for treatment back in the Stone Age of the 1950s/1960s, but it was not as effective and caused a variety of secondary cancers. It is still used today to supplement chemotherapy in some cases. In my case, the doctors have recommended passing on it (for now) because a). the risks of secondary cancers and b). the Hodge has spread to various spots across my neck/chest, so it would take multiple different beams to really target it effectively.

Here are some upcoming dates I get to "look forward to"!

• August 28th: heart and lung tests to make sure both of those bad boys are strong enough for the chemo drugs
• September 4: Chemo #1. I was originally going to start next week, but I have a wedding I'm attending over Labor Day weekend, and I really didn't want to be drugged up for it.

Other things of interest:

• I will not be doing a port, which is sometimes used to aid in chemotherapy infusions. It is a little device that they insert surgically into your chest which then aids with getting the chemo drugs into you in a quick, efficient way. I was under the impression that most people undergoing ABVD chemo opted to do this, but my doctor said that it was not necessary, though he would do it if I wanted to. While the thought of endless pricks and needle searches for my veins doesn't sound like my cup of tea, the thought of having some weird device protruding out of my chest for 6 months also sounds pretty icky. Ultimately, I decided against it because I've been told by numerous medical practitioners that I have really "great" veins for this kind of stuff, so I thought I should put them to good use. If it ends up being too much, I can always get one inserted.
• Fertility issues don't seem to be as big of a concern as I thought. Your fertility may be damaged during and immediately after treatment, but according to Dr. Peterson, about 90% of people regain their fertility within a year after chemotherapy treatment. An added bonus: oral contraceptives, which suppress some of the ovarian activity, actually help preserve fertility during chemotherapy. Yay BC!
• A sidenote: he did say if I wanted 100% certainty that I'd be able to pop out some Jen Jrs that I could harvest my eggs. While I found that morbidly interesting in a Dr. Evil type of way, it would require at least three months of additional procedures before I could even start chemotherapy. I feel comfortable with my odds at 90%.
• Hair loss: I've heard some mixed information about this. On the one had, Dr. Peterson and the rest of the internet told me to prepare for it, since it is almost certain my luscious locks will fall out about two weeks after the first treatment. However, the chemotherapy nurse we spoke to after said that it doesn't always happen and that she had many patients who just had some minor thinning. I already shed a lot (just ask poor Scott, who routinely had to deal with my dark hair falling all over our pristine white bathroom), so I don't want to get my hopes up that I'll be one of the lucky ones. Wig/headscarf shopping will commence ASAP. Heaven forbid I wake up one day looking like this:
  
• I'm not "bulky". This is a term used to describe how large the various lymph node masses are. My largest one is in my chest and is about 5 cm. Anything under 10 cm is considered "non bulky", which is apparently a good thing.
• I asked Dr. Peterson how long he thinks the Hodge has been growing. He said probably a few years! This differs from what the NYU Oncologist said (he said a few weeks). I'm wondering if he was just specifically talking about the lymph node I was able to feel? As I mentioned in my earlier post, there are multiple different lymph nodes that have been affected, so perhaps the one I detected above my collarbone was one of the newer ones? From the research I've done, Hodgkins seems to be relatively slow growing, so Dr. Peterson's hypothesis seems more likely.

This is the plan, in a nutshell! I'm looking forward to having a few more weeks of (seemingly) good health which will be filled with the Minnesota State Fair, SUPing (stand up paddle boarding), a wedding in rural Wisconsin (and maybe even a trip to Madison!), lots of biking, and exploring the Twin Cities. 

As always, thank you for your <3 and support. :)