The Diagnosis of Rachel

Hey everyone... 

Thought I'd relay this update on Rachel... 

 As most of you know Rachel was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma about a week before Kelly's wedding in August. She found a lump below her clavicle on the left side and after a couple of rounds of anti-biotics... it was surgically removed..(it was the size of a golf ball!) So.... we felt we should also get another opinion... we are quite happy with our Pittsburg Oncologist, but we want to make sure..

Jan, Rachel and I travelled to Omaha yesterday (Sept 5th) to meet with an 
Oncologist with the Univ of Nebraska Cancer Research Hospital... 
his expertise is Hodgkins Disease and we were getting a 2nd opinion.

It was a very rewarding trip... one that answered lots of questions 
and provided much hope to all of us about her disease and the short/
long term effects.

Here's the results of the discussion:
1) He agreed with the original diagnosis... Classic Hodgkins  Lymphoma (cancer) and it is possibly in a Stage 2 phase (there are 4 stages with this disease).  The stages are based on how many and which lymph nodes are infected. Her original node in her neck/ shoulder area was removed and that would be Stage 1. The next area 
that could be infected is near the center chest/heart area.. that is Stage 2.  Both doctors are uncertain if this area is infected because young people have an active Thymus gland near the heart that "lights" up under a radio active scan for cancer. This area lit up in Rachel, but they don't know if it lit up because of cancer cells or her Thymus. Despite the uncertainty... they are assuming it is cancer and calling it Stage 2.  BTW... the scan did not show any cancer cells left in the original Stage 1 area after her operation to remove that gland. (That's good news!)

2) Hodgkins is an unusual, but fairly common disease and one that has much research. Young people have an 85 to 95 percent of beating the disease on the first round... clear after 2 years... its 98 percent chance it will never occur again...after 5 years it's 99.9 percent gone forever.

3) Having Hodgkins does not make her "prone" to other cancers. It is a stand alone disease and doesn't mean it will lead to something else later on... the only other issue is the radiation used to  treat it...(more on this below)

4) All other questions related to the "effects" of Chemo were  answered... fertility, hair loss, potential sickness... lots of  good/positive/hopeful answers to our questions... the only negative  was the hair loss, but it will grow back... (except for me!)

5) His treatment options were nearly identical to what was suggested by our Pittsburg Oncologist... except for 1 month MORE of Chemo. Rachel will need 8 treatments of chemo.... 1 every other week.... so it will take about 4 months for the chemo treatments.  She is to carry on as normal as she wants... the doctor expected 
her to still go to school, work and have a social life. After this initial treatment, we'll do another scan and make sure the cancer is in remission. Rachel will then decide what she wants to do with the final stage of her treatment. She has two options: a) 2 more months (4 treatments) of chemo OR b) 15-20 days of localized 
radiation of those two areas in her chest. The radiation has some potential long term effects... mainly an increased chance of breast cancer or an over active thyroid due to the radiation being close to those areas. She has time to decide 
what to do with this...

Rachel will begin treatments on Monday or Tuesday of next week... 
Kelly is now an RN and works in Oncology in KC... she has arranged her schedule to come back and be with Rachel during all her treatments and the days immediately afterward... we're really appreciative of her doing this!

This is the latest news and we're ready to move on... Rachel's attitude is great, positive.... really a bit better than Jan and I have been at times, but we're all on the same page now. Get this over with and let Rach move on with her life.

Thanks again for all of your support, motivation and prayers...
It is all GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!