Most recent update

Hi all - I will go more in depth later about things but here's a quick update. I know people want to know and I apologize about not writing sooner. Here's the 411: Elizabeth's PET/CT scans were sent to Tulane and the radiology group there saw noted response in the lung nodules; however, there was 1-2 spots that stayed the same size and the radiologist noted 1 new lesion - which is obviously not good given she had gone through two rounds of chemo. So we drove to Tulane this weekend to meet with Dr. Safah on Monday. She was concerned about the new lesion more so than anything else. Having said that, Elizabeth was running a mild fever and her heart rate was fairly high. She's been quite fatigued the last few days so we weren't sure exactly what was wrong but the thought of an infection had crossed my mind. Dr. Safah wanted to know exactly what was going on in the chest so she sent Elizabeth to meet with Dr. Lasky, the chair of the Pulmonary Department at Tulane. During this appointment on Tuesday, Dr. Lasky and two other doctors read her PET/CT scans and said that they did not see ANY new lesions - huh? Ok - deep breath - this could be a very good thing. Let's not get excited. Next step - another CT and bronchoscopy. Dr. Lasky said he thought that she has had a pretty good response to chemo - in his opinion. Based on the reads from Memphis and Tulane - there seemed to be a decent response to chemo - that's the good news. The bad news is that we were hoping for a complete response or a very good partial response and this didn't quite live up to that. The treatment moving forward will depend on the results of the biopsies and re-reads of the PET/CT scans. She had the CT yesterday evening and the bronchoscopy this morning. I think that all went well. Dr. Palomino (who also saw the new CT and 2-week-old PET/CT results) told me on the phone that he thinks her lymph nodes have gotten smaller in the last 2 weeks. I guess we'll get confirmation when I see the CT results in my hand. I pray that this is the case. If so, it takes her response from decent to partial which moves us closer to the auto stem cell transplant - and after we clear up any potential infection, then we may even have a very good partial response to ESHAP. Who knows at this point. It's been a roller coaster these last few months so we are hoping for the best right now. Quick update - just spoke to my mom who called as I was typing this post. Dr. Palomino spoke to Elizabeth and my mom and said that it is his opinion that based on his procedure this morning, that there is multiple things going on in her lungs - possible radiation pneumonitis, infection, and lymphoma. However, the lungs looked pretty good and that the initial tests showed inflammation but nothing malignant. That doesn't mean anything until the biopsy results come in but Dr. Palomino noted that he did not see, what he thought, were malignant tumors in her lungs. Fingers crossed but my hunch is that there are several cancerous nodules in there - hope like hell that I am wrong. Anywho, Elizabeth is in recovery and should be going home to rest in the next few hours. She is tired and needs to rest. My guess is that we will know more on Friday as the pathology results start to make their way in. Dr. Palomino said that he thinks that the cultures (for infection) will drag into Monday/Tuesday of next week so it looks like treatment might not start until the middle of next week - if there is no infection. Any infection will require antibiotics before treatment given the amount of chemo that she has had already. I will post again in the next couple of days to say how she feels. It appears possible that we may have some better news - but we are bracing for mediocre or bad - because it seems that most of the news lately has been that. Having said that, we remain very committed to fighting this and she is in extremely good spirits although she is very tired. Elizabeth is so strong - it is quite remarkable. Such a warrior. She will beat this - we know she will. In closing, I know that Trey Erwin passed away last week. We want to pass along our condolences to the Erwin family. Cancer is such devastating thing to have to go through and even worse when the loved one does not survive. It takes such a toll on a family as we are finding out first hand. On one hand, we feel so unlucky to have had this disease strike our family but it's almost impossible to not feel at least somewhat fortunate that Elizabeth still has a curable disease - even after multiple relapses, Hodgkin's can be cured - the odds go down, but it's possible. Hugged those loved ones tight! Take care everyone. More to come later this week. Much love, Scott