Well, following about a week of continuous hibernation, I'm starting to come to at this point. Still very much out of it, but feeling a lot better (short of the usual bone pain from Neulasta). Happy that should be the last shot of it.
What's on the gameplan? Well, the end of next week we should get our next PET and CT scans, and the week following I'll have my radiation simulation - This is the process where they actually map out and program the machine on how they will give me radiation (down to the millimeter). They will set up shielding for vital stuff like my heart and lungs (as much of my lungs as they can, anyway), and get me ready to rock.
Assuming we're good to go, radiation will start the week of the 28th -- Which should also be my first week back to work hopefully (yay!). Why am I going back before rads are done? Because rads aren't really supposed to start taking a toll until week 3, and if I need to I'll go back out then (partially or completely). At least it will give me a couple weeks to get caught up at work.
Rads are scary. While chemo isn't a pleasure cruise, ABVD (my chemo regimen) is relatively benign with long-term side effects. Radiation has the gambit of possible risks - lung cancer, thyroid damage, heart and artery damage. Better rads than not (since we have hodgkins NOW), but its the part that gives me some pause.
Where am I getting it done? Still don't have a clue. Do I go to Paoli, where I've met the doc (she trained at Sloan-Kettering, which is a well-known and respected cancer center), or HUP (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania) which is a national cancer center, well-known and respected, and with a brilliant young doc -- Who I've never met.
I swear, this friggin thing is going to come down to a coin toss, you watch...
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