Oncologist Appointment
Hi everyone, first off, Dr. Mohammed is wonderful! I feel that I am in great hands to take this on and beat this. He took his time to listen to how this came about, and then he walked us through what Lymphoma is. For those who are not aware, Lymphoma is a blood cancer. There are two types of Lymphoma. Hodgkins and Non-Hodgkins. I have classical Hodgkins Lymphoma which is more common in people my age group. The silver lining is that it is one of the more curable cancers, with ~80% cure rate. Lymphoma staging is different than other cancers. Later stages do not necessarily impact the cure rate. When you treat the blood, it treats everything. My current stage is stage 3. The disease is present in my neck, chest and two small areas in my groin. Dr. Mohammed wants to treat this aggressively and start treatment ASAP to move me toward the next happy, healthy phase of my life.
The treatment I'll be receiving is 6 cycles of Nivo - AVD. This treatment combines immunotherapy and chemotherapy. 6 cycles means about 6 months of treatment. Each cycle is 28 days. My treatments will be on day 1, and day 15. We are hoping to start my first treatment on 3/25! Yayyyy for starting ASAP! We will update the calendar here once we have that date cofirmed by Zimmer Cancer Institute and also approval by my insurance.
Nivolumab is used to boost my immune system to fight the cancer. AVD Chemo directly attacks and kills cancer cells. It is a combined approach to improve the effectiveness of chemo alone and potentially reduce the risk of long term side effects of older regimens like ABVD (such as nueropathy)
Dr. Mohammed encouraged me to stay active and take care of myself. He also encouraged me to keep working when I can, to maintain a sense of “normal” for my mind. I love having a goal, so mine will be to keep moving, taking little walks, doing gentle yoga, and whatever I can to keep my body strong. I’m also making it a goal to care for my heart, mind, and soul, while giving myself permission to be soft, and to feel whatever comes up: sadness, anger, and grief throughout this process.
I am in high spirits to beat this shit! I appreciate everyone who has supported me and will continue to support me through this.
Treat people with kindness :)
- Hannah
