Variations in Treatments

Congrats to my fellow Hodge fighting friends who have recently finished their treatments, like Erin and Steve!

We were all diagnosed with stage 2A Bulky and started treatment around the same time last fall. We all did the combined modality treatment where we had ABVD first and then radiation, yet I was done in March. The big discrepancy in our end dates is due to the number of chemotherapy cycles we had. They had at least two more cycles than I did, and remember a cycle is one month; hence, May for them. Originally I was to have 6 cycles of chemotherapy too, but we changed our minds in January when I had 4 under my belt and started rads.

I wonder why the difference in our treatments if we all started in the same situation? Whether or not they got to much chemo or I didn't get enough is open for speculation. I'm guessing it's simply personal preference of the oncologist, among the more solid factors such as patient response and size of the bulky mass. The bottom line, no matter how we got here, is that the therapy worked for all of us and we are all in remission now.

BTW, I am loving my hair these days. It's definitely chemo hair, all wavy and sprigy. Unfortunately, it won't last. Short hair has never looked so good on me because the wavy nature keeps it from sticking straight up like a chia. We've been having consistently humid weather lately, so the curls are enhanced, and I'm the only curly-head not complaining about it! Part of me wants to keep enjoying short hair that behaves, and the other part wants to see what's next if I let it continue to grow.