Chronicle of a Stem Cell Transplant (and on through to the other side)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Double Sixes

Well, your community and cross-country finger crossing did the trick...

I'm still on the trial!

It's a bit of a long story, but when all was said and done today, and after some insistence and negotiation, it was agreed that another dose of SGN-35 is my best option at this point.

While my latest set of scans shows some progression, it is not "global." Some areas have remained stable and a few have even decreased. There are also no new areas of disease.

Certainly, we have to keep a very close eye on things, but given that I feel relatively well and the progression seems slow (not to mention, there are no other treatment options available here), I believe that I have and continue to achieve some significant benefit with this drug.

However, it seems that some doctors are still not understanding that many of us who are living with refractory Hodgkin's are treating it as a chronic condition (what I wouldn't give to be stuck with chronic halitosis instead).

With that in mind, while "stable" disease would be great, a slow progression with minimal side effects is the next best thing and worth maintaining in the absence of anything better.

I wish I could just buy some peppermint mouthwash and call it a day.