From delicious meals to goofy holiday movies to great conversations with family and friends, I had a wonderful wrap up to 2014. While it would have been nice to wrap up all things Hodge in 2014, I guess I can't really complain since I have LESS THAN A MONTH LEFT OF CHEMO!! That's right, folks, if all goes to plan, I have just two treatments left -- January 21st and February 4th -- and then a post-treatment scan 4-6 weeks later, and then I'm (hopefully!) donezo!
I had my most recent treatment, chemo #10, yesterday, and it went much smoother than last time -- aka we got a good vein right away, and it stayed a good vein all the way through! My nurse was Andrea, who I've had a few times now and who is a pro at finding veins. In fact, Andrea was the one who rescued me way back during chemo #2 when I had my first vein mishap. In a nutshell: go Andrea!
I also had quite the posse cheering me on. In addition to Scott, who is a regular at this point, Anna and Abram were in town from Washington, DC, and generously spent some of their hard earned winter break from Georgetown Law in the chemo ward with me. Ashley and Brittney also stopped by to hang out, and we all had a blast (or, as much of a "blast" as one can have in the chemo ward). Since the majority of patients I see in infusion are well into their golden years, I think it's probably safe to say that this #millennialinvasion was the largest number of people under-30 to ever be under their roof at the same time. As usual, the staff at the Masonic Cancer Clinic were wonderful and accommodating, finding chairs for everyone and letting us shamelessly raid the snack cabinet. Oh, and the older gentleman next to us didn't even seem to mind our probably louder/more inappropriate- than-what-is-considered-polite conversations; he snored through it all (though how someone can sleep during infusion is beyond me!). So thanks, friends, for your wonderful company and support!
Alright, those were the highlights from Chemo #10. Now, on to a more philosophical topic. You're probably wondering about the headline, "Why I will no longer call chemo "poison". In previous posts, I had joked around about going into infusion to "get poisoned". While I wrote this as a joke/to be dramatic, this is not entirely factually incorrect -- chemotherapy damages both cancer cells and healthy cells and -- for most people, at least -- causes many unpleasant side-effects, many of which I have detailed in my blog. While it is definitely not an ideal way to treat cancer, right now it's the most effective treatment we've got.
So, having said this, I am incredibly saddened to read about a 17 year old girl named Cassandra in Connecticut who was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and is trying to refuse treatment because, in her mind, it is "poison". Without treatment, Hodgkins is fatal. Luckily, though, it is one of the most treatable cancers out there, and with standard chemotherapy treatment, the 5-year survival rate for patients is 90%. Obviously, most Hodgkins patients live much longer than that -- as I mentioned in my last post, once a patient hits the 2 year mark the chances for relapse go way down. At the 5 year mark, a relapse it is extremely unlikely, to the point that most doctors feel comfortable declaring the patient as "cured".
Since Cassandra is 17 and a minor, her parents are the ones legally responsible for her medical care. Since they fully support Cassandra's decision to forego treatment, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families have intervened and removed Cassandra from her parents' stewardship, accusing the them of neglect, and put her into temporary state custody. She is currently being held in the hospital and receiving treatment against her wishes.
Obviously, this is a very complicated situation, both legally and morally. In general, I believe that adults have the choice to pursue or refuse treatment as they see fit. And while it makes me extremely uncomfortable, I even believe that physician-assisted suicide should be legal on a federal level in the case of a painful terminal illness (this belief was reinforced after the Brittany Maynard saga last year).
But this case is different. For one, Cassandra is still a minor -- a painfully ill-informed one at that. And two, as they say in The Hunger Games, the odds of a full recovery are ever in her favor, so I think it's fair to say that the decision to refuse treatment is not only stupid; it's also extremely irrational. If Cassandra was diagnosed with a terminal illness and told she had only months to live, I might feel differently, but the facts are that she will definitely die without treatment and most likely survive with treatment.
I think in a few of decades we will look back at chemotherapy as a barbaric form of treatment. I mean, with chemotherapy you have to get sicker in order to get better. That sounds fun, said no person ever! Even now, there are many promising studies demonstrating the efficacy of immunotherapy and other non-chemotherapy approaches to treatment. But these studies are still in their infancy, and it will likely be at least a few years before doctors have an equally effective alternative to treating cancer.
So, since chemotherapy is the most effective way to treat cancer and is directly responsible for saving thousands of lives each year, I have now declared a moratorium on calling it "poison", even if I am just kidding around. What it really is is a crucial, life-saving medicine that I am thankful to be receiving.
I'll wrap up by summarizing a conversation my mom had with my great uncle shortly after I was diagnosed last summer. My great uncle is a dermatologist, and has been practicing medicine since the 1960s. He told her that when he was going through medical school -- and for the first decade he was in practice -- Hodgkin's was basically a death sentence. It wasn't until the 1970s and the arrival of ABVD that it was able to become one of the most curable cancers out there. Just like that -- thanks entirely to innovations in modern medicine -- thousands of lives have been saved each year.
While I am not in the clear yet, I am going to say a premature 'thank you' to the chemo drugs for doing their job and killing The Hodge. Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbizine, I salut you (even if you did make me lose my hair)!
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