Spending holidays in the hospital pretty much sucks. There's no nice way to describe it. Even with visitors and the cafeteria making an effort to make the food taste good doesn't help. So, Thanksgiving day I continued to receive blood transfusions until I hit that fifth bag. Then they left the IV in, much to my dismay and gave me fluids. Turns out I was really dehydrated on top of being incredibly anemic. Friday came and went with no new news. I was bored and chomping at the bit to get out of the hospital. I was, however, enjoying getting to watch cable. Especially since I got to watch my much beloved Nicklodeon and Cartoon Network. I got to watch Rugrats! AHHH! Real Monsters! I love cartoons. Cable was making this stay a little bit tolerable (not to mention making me forget about the money -- I can't afford cable at home).

Saturday afternoon, one of the nurses came in to give me the diagnosis: Hodgkin's disease. This had all happened so fast that I really didn't know what that meant. I thought it was super-serious and I was dying. Well, we're all dying all the time, but I mean, I thought I had a couple of months, maybe. He quickly corrected me with a huge, beaming grin and said, no, of the possibilities, this was by far the "good one." I felt like I'd won the lottery:

"Yeah! I have Hodgkin's disease!!! I got lucky!"
(I told you at the beginning of this that I have a warped sense of humor. I did warn you.)

Well, jumping up and down after gettting five units of blood and still being tied to the stupid IV isn't a good idea and is generally frown upon. So, we just quietly cheered

A few hours later, one of the oncologists came in, beaming as well. I got the whole spiel about how Hodgkin's has a 75% cure rate and this was all great news. Because I have asthma, they were concerned about the regimen of chemo they wanted to use. Bleomycin can affect the respiratory system. Some of the other drugs affect the heart. So, I had an EKG. (I think that was the one. Have I mentioned that I'm an idiot with anything in the life sciences? I didn't take biology in college and it shows. I can point out lots of constellations, though!) Before and after the first dose of chemo, the nurse had to come in and listen to my breathing.

It seemed to go well. I tolereated everything fine, and surprisingly, I didn't get nauseous or anything. Let me tell you, it's better to get cancer and chemo now than it used to be! They've got the anti-nausea meds down much better now. MUCH. Of course, it all depends on what cocktail of chemo they have you on, but I never did get nauseous the whole time I had chemo.

And, bonus!

My rash started to ease up and began to actually disappear within hours. By the next day it was nearly gone. Now, it took months for it to really go away. My reaction with the rash is not a typical Hodgkin's reaction. First, I get rashes at the drop of a hat. I always have. I have allergies that come out as rash or even hives in extreme cases. You know how some people get a heat rash? Well, I don't get those. I get a cold rash. If I get too cold (and it's relative -- the temperature might not be very low), I break out in a rash. I have to be careful to watch the temperature in whatever room I'm in so I don't break out. Anyhow, the rash would recede quite a bit after chemo and then begin to flare up again a few days before the next round was to start.

You also have to understand just how pervasive this rash actually was. It originally started on my hands, disappeared there and popped up on my calves. By Thanksgiving of 1999, it was all over my legs, on the tops of my feet, on my torso, my back and my arms. It was literally impossible not to scratch it. I could try, but the rash was thick and everywhere.

Continuing on chemo >