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The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences with ABVD (Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine) chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. I hope this takes some of the mystery out of treatment for cancer and makes your own experience more pleasant. I was inspired to create this blog by Jon, the author of Adventures in ABVD. You can compare his experience to my own at http://www.adventuresinabvd.blogspot.com/.
Jamie
What? Me worry about hair loss?
Feel free to email me at jdstorella@verizon.net.
Background
I'm 43 years old and live in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts.
After decades of having a stuffy nose and breathing through my mouth I decided to have surgery to correct the blockages in my airway. The procedure included fixing a deviated septum, cauterizing enlarged turbinates and removing huge adenoids. The surgery was successful (and painless) and my breathing improved dramatically once the splints were removed from my nose a week later. My care at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital was top notch and the staff was kind and professional. I felt better than I had in ten years.
Two days later I received a call from the office of my ENT. I was told that the biopsy of the adenoid tissue that was removed was inconclusive and the doctor wanted to see me that day. I learned that two hospitals had reviewed my biopsy and thought I might have Hodgkin's lymphoma. I would have to wait a week to have more sophisticated tests performed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Boy was that a long week!
On November 16, 2007, the diagnosis was confirmed. I had cancer. I was told that it was a highly curable form of cancer and that a CT scan suggested that it may have been caught in a very early stage. A PET scan confirmed that it was located in a single area of my body. Since I had no symptoms I was diagnosed with stage 1A Classical Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that affects only about 8,000 people per year in the United States.
After decades of having a stuffy nose and breathing through my mouth I decided to have surgery to correct the blockages in my airway. The procedure included fixing a deviated septum, cauterizing enlarged turbinates and removing huge adenoids. The surgery was successful (and painless) and my breathing improved dramatically once the splints were removed from my nose a week later. My care at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital was top notch and the staff was kind and professional. I felt better than I had in ten years.
Two days later I received a call from the office of my ENT. I was told that the biopsy of the adenoid tissue that was removed was inconclusive and the doctor wanted to see me that day. I learned that two hospitals had reviewed my biopsy and thought I might have Hodgkin's lymphoma. I would have to wait a week to have more sophisticated tests performed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Boy was that a long week!
On November 16, 2007, the diagnosis was confirmed. I had cancer. I was told that it was a highly curable form of cancer and that a CT scan suggested that it may have been caught in a very early stage. A PET scan confirmed that it was located in a single area of my body. Since I had no symptoms I was diagnosed with stage 1A Classical Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that affects only about 8,000 people per year in the United States.
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5 comments:
Great news! Also I added you to my blogroll. Open invitation to you and your readers to participate in the Being Cancer Book Club. This month we are discussing “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. “...the lecture he gave ... was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.”
Monday is Book Club day; Tuesday Guest Blog and Friday Cancer News Roundup.
Also check out Cancer Blog Links containing over 225 blog links and Cancer Resources with 230 referenced sites, both divided into disease categories.
Please accept this invitation to join our growing cancer blogging community at www.beingcancer.net
Take care, Dennis
Congratulations Jamie ! I really feel great about your news ! God is good with us ! I know you don't read/speak spanish, but I invite you any way to take a look at my blog, I'm really into digital photography right now ! Have a great day ! GOD Bless you pal !
yay! i look forward to getting that news too... just a year to go haha. congrats. enjoy celebrating :)
Wow man! Congratulations.
I'm from Brasil and I was checking my blog, that have a similar name and occasualy I found yours. Man, its kind of strange, but very good to find people with the same experiences and ,in your case, so good news.
God bless you and good look in your fight.
by the way, sorry for my bizarre english. It was much time without practicing... :S
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