Failure is Not An Option

Welcome

jah — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 20:42:31 +0000

An account of my experience with Hodgkin’s disease

The Story

Diagnosis (last updated 2/6/03)
Staging (last updated 2/24/03)
Choosing a Treatment (last updated 2/25/03)
Chemo (last updated 2/25/03)
Hiatus (last updated 5/3/03)
Radiation (last updated 6/13/03)
Aftermath (last updated 5/15/07)

Cast of Characters

If you’re here, you probably know us, but just in case….

Mike: my husband
Ben: my son, age 6
Emmy: my daughter, turned 2 in the course of the story
TiVo: where I work
Alana: my sister. Also works at TiVo.
Mom and Bud: my mom (duh) and step-father
Dad and Audrey: my dad (duh again) and step-mother

The Medical Personnel, in order of appearance

Dr. David Francisco: my usual doctor
Dr. Peter Naruns: the surgeon who did the biopsy
Dr. Peter Yu: the first oncologist I saw
Dr. Bill Loo: the Stanford Radiation Oncologist resident who works with Dr. Horning
Dr. Sandra Horning: the Stanford oncologist who will treat me
Sheila Breslin, RN: The nurse in Stanford’s lymphoma clinic
Dr. Brad Ekstrand: another doctor who works with Dr. Horning
Dr. Richard Hoppe: the Stanford radiation oncologist who will treat me
Dr. David Roberge: another radiation oncologist who works with Dr. Hoppe

Useful Links

Amusing quotes (last updated 3/25/03)
The Bleo Awards (last updated 5/3/03)
Some thoughts (last updated 10/8/03)
The National Cancer Institute’s Hodgkin’s page
Preston Hunt’s blog (Hodgkin’s diagnosed October 20, 2003, finished treatment March 12, 2004)

Post-script

jah — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:19:02 +0000

Written some time in 2006, committed to the blog in 2007: One day, during radiation, I hit a wall. The world, which had always seemed full of adventure and at least the possibility of joy, was deflated. The chemo and radiation were killing the cancer cells, but I thought that they were also taking away my spirit. I was going to pop out the other end of this thing alive, for sure, and able to go back to doing whatever it was that I did, but the joy would be gone. I knew healthy, and I knew sick (bearable only because it would end), but I feared that the best I could hope for after Hodgkins was no-longer-sick. (more…)

Aftermath

jah — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 21:16:20 +0000

Friday, 6/27/03: Well, I didn’t get shingles, but that didn’t prevent me from some medical excitement this week. Starting last week, I noticed a big red blotch on my left shin - it looked like a bruise, but it itched like a weird mutant mosquito bite. A few days later, another one appeared on my right calf. (more…)

The Advice Page

jah — Sat, 10 Jul 2004 21:23:52 +0000

This advice is stuff nobody told me, and I didn’t find in any booklets from the American Cancer Society, from the social worker at the hospital, or anyone else. Hopefully someone will find it useful. (more…)

Radiation

jah — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 21:14:43 +0000

Tuesday, 5/6/03: Yesterday was another meeting with Dr. Roberge and Dr. Hoppe. They went over the information about short term and long term side effects that I’d heard at the first visit, and then it was off to a CT scan, this one with no fasting, pina colada stuff, or injections (if they keep taking indignities away, I’ll have nothing to write about!). (more…)

Hiatus

jah — Sat, 03 May 2003 21:13:32 +0000

Tuesday, 4/29/03: Last week was my doctor-free week. By about Tuesday, I was feeling pretty much like my old self. By Wednesday, I was done with the Hodgkins-related diet restrictions. Salad never tasted so good. (more…)

Chemo, week 8

jah — Mon, 21 Apr 2003 21:11:53 +0000

Hair Situation	A nimbus of brown. If I were two weeks old, it would be cute.
Weight	Down 6 from normal
Symptoms	Clumsiness, absent-mindedness, and heartburn. Also some irrational exuberance due to the lack of a PICC line

(more…)

Chemo, week 7

jah — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 21:10:45 +0000

Hair Situation	Very very patchy
Weight	Down 6 from normal
Symptoms	Fatigue, clumsiness, insomnia, absent-mindedness, and heartburn. And a partridge in a pear tree.

(more…)

Chemo, week 6

jah — Fri, 04 Apr 2003 21:09:34 +0000

Hair Situation	Pretty darn thin. I can comb it back, without a part, and you don’t really see the bald patches, but then I look like Fonzie. I’m into serious hats now.
Weight	Down 6 from normal
Symptoms	Fatigue, heartburn

(more…)

Bleo Awards Honor Excellence, Wretchedness

jah — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 21:22:00 +0000

SARATOGA, California - Last night’s Bleo Awards ceremony, chemotherapy’s answer to the Oscars and the Emmys, honored the year’s best in side effects, medical procedures, and medication. (more…)