cancer cells & carbonite

We have now 100% confirmed type 1A lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This is fantastic news: normal cancer can travel through your body through all kinds of pesky cancer transporter beams, but lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin’s Lymphoma has to progress sequentially down the Oregon Trail of your Lymph Node system. That makes it containable and predictable. Which is good.

In addition, all tests have come back negative for any further traces of cancer. Which is also good. Very good.

The upshot of all of this is that treatment will be drastically abbreviated, localized, and will consist of radiation only. The aim of this treatment will be to nuke any stray cells that are currently at risk for going renegade. It’s hard to imagine a more favorable scenario, other than the doctors stepping out of a time machine letting us know that they’ve reviewed my medical records from 2059 and found no traces of the stuff.

We started today with a planning session. As part of this session, the radiology department makes a pillow shaped that hardens exactly to the shape of your head in under five minutes (!!!). Why are the big pharmaceuticals spending all of that money looking for cures when they could be marketing “Your Best Pillow Now”?

Then the radiologists told me that they’d need to do something to keep me absolutely still while they shot the radiation at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, backing up unsteadily (they were inching forward with a very strange look in their eyes). All of the sudden, the floor opened beneath me, and I feel dozens of feet as a pillar of hot steam erupted out of nowhere. The last thing I remember was one of their mocking voices quietly saying “All too easy…” or something like that.

Treatment begins on 3/10 and runs daily for three weeks. It is obvious to us and everyone around us that we are wrapped up tight in the gracious providence of our loving Creator. Your prayers are and will continue to be deeply appreciated.