Thank you so much everyone for your support and for doing the clean PET dance with us. I'm imagining the dance looking similar to the potty dance on the diapers commercials; it involves lots of jumping and wiggling!
A clean PET is a step in the right direction. It also gives Eric and I enough information to think about a second opinion. We are going to arrange a meeting with our doctor to discuss the matter. Hodgkin's treatments are fairly straightforward (aka - ABVD is the chemo regimen of choice among doctors in the US) except when it comes to whether or not to do radiation. In fact there's a 1200 person study of active stage I and II Hodgkin's patients that started in July of 2010; this study is (among many other things) attempting to shed light on this very question. It's a fairly decent sized study considering that there are only 150,000 people with Hodgkin's (remission or active, all stages) in the world. As Eric pointed out, if they're doing a huge study, it probably means they don't have the answers yet! Brilliant! So, to radiate or not to radiate .... that is the question. Luckily, with the clean PET, I've got good odds either way. I do however want to be active and deliberate when making such a decision, and having a wonderful doctor who doesn't seem to mind intelligent questions makes this process much easier.
Other exciting things happening right now:
- I just took a bath.
- I still have my hair
- Eric and I stayed out until 12:30 last night .... dancing. Perhaps we even did the PET scan potty dance -- though I'll never tell.
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The PET dance - awesome! I'm SO happy to hear that your chemo is working and those bad cells are getting beaten up. The radiation thing is a tricky question, for sure. Some evidence of increased survival odds but also evidence that the radiation has its own risks in terms of other illnesses down the road caused by the radiation. So I think you've got it just right to do lots of research and be an informed consumer. I'm envious of your hair! I'm still pretty running the bald look...
ReplyDeleteGEORGE! My hair's hanging on for now, but we'll look identical in no time (it's pretty thin). We will be following you closely this next month and a half. All the very best for this next stage in the process.
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