Update: We have a diagnosis and treatment plan!

Well, it has been less than a month since the first appointment that led us to the path of finding out what was going on with Brad and we now have an official diagnosis...

 

*Stage 2a Bulky Hodgkins Lymphoma*

 

 

Stage 2: Means it is two groups of nodes, the one mass on his chest under his breast bone, and then he has a small node that is enlarged under his collarbone. And the PET scan showed us that it has not spread to any other area of his body.

 

Stage 2 can be either a or b and it depends on symptoms. Stage 2b symptoms are systematic and include fever, weight loss and night sweats and Brad exhibits none of these, which is a good thing and puts him at stage 2a.

 

The *bulky* part of his diagnosis is considered unfavorable, but still curable! Bulky just tells us that the mass is rather large. If the mass was smaller he would be considered just a 2a.

 

Now on to treatment..

 

Which will start

***February 17th***

&

will be every other week.

 

 

Brad has opted to do an early stage clinical trial.

 

Standard treatment for early stage Hodgkins is a chemotherapy called ABVD (a mild form of chemo) with a baseline of 6 cycles (which is 12 treatments, over 6 months.)

 

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The clinical trial will be 2 cycles, so 4 treatments over 8 weeks of ABVD and then a PET scan to see if the cancer cells are gone or mostly gone. If they ARE we will continue on to do 4 more cycles. If they are NOT we will switch to a slightly more aggressive chemo called BEACOPP for 4 cycles.

 

So the main difference here is if they aren't seeing the results they want after 8 weeks, they will switch to a more aggressive chemo versus waiting it out with the ABVD.

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I know it's a lot it absorb and a lot of information, but people are curious so I thought I would share!

 

The doctors are extremely optimistic, and we really are not worried at this point! Brad is just more than ready to get going, and to get it over with!

 

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers! We have been overjoyed with all of the love and support! Keep them coming as we have heard the 1st round of chemo is the most difficult!!