Classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma

As I was walking back from the mailbox this afternoon, I received the call that my pathology results have been finalized and it revealed:  Classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  In case you didn't hear or read already, this has a very high cure rate and is very treatable.  So, it was a relief to hear this news.

They attempted to recruit me for a clinical trial at Virginia Mason.  The trial would substitute the bleomycin in the usual ABVD treatment with brentuximab.  The advantage of brentuximab is that it doesn't carry the risk of pulmonary fibrosis (lung scarring) as the bleomycin does and they thought this could be a huge advantage for me given that I am a runner.  Well, as exciting as that sounded, I would not know which arm of the treatment I would be randomized to (I may receive bleomycin anyway) and I really don't want to fight Seattle traffic every 2 weeks for infusions (as they only perform them at Seattle or Federal Way).  So, I will stick with my colleagues at Evergreen and the SCCA (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance).

Tomorrow, I will discuss with my oncologist whether this same trial may be occurring in the SCCA system as well.  I have a 9 am appointment with my oncologist to discuss diagnosis, implications, treatment, prognosis, etc and then a 10 am appointment with the pharmacist to review the 4 cytotoxic drugs that will be part of my chemotherapy treatment.  (Although I have already read up on this information, I want to understand the whole patient experience.)

Victory doesn’t come from a cancer-free diagnosis, but on how you choose to live your life while you have this disease.  That is why you have to strive to be happy.  – Jose R. Arevalo, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Survivor