abvd

(ABVD being the chemotherapy I'll be getting)

I just got a call from the nurse who's handling the clinical trial, and after the randomization, I've been selected to be part of the control group. That means I'll be getting the traditional ABVD treatment for 6-8 months, with 3 weeks of radiation therapy after that.

Unfortunately, I've had some cold symptoms over the weekend, although I started taking Cold Eeze right away and it hasn't been bad yet -- just some sinus stuff (it may even be some sort of winter-spawned allergy, but I'm pretty sure it's a cold). Since I'm meeting with the oncologist at 1:00 Wednesday anyway, the nurse scheduled me to have a blood draw at 12:30 to make sure I'm okay to start the chemo afterward (1:45).

I also had a more specific talk with my boss about the work situation, and he's been very supportive and cooperative. Since it's winter, and just about everyone here is riddled with disease, or has children who probably are, he said it's okay if I need to stay home (I can work from home pretty easily, especially since I use my own laptop at work anyway). We also don't know yet how my body will react to the chemo as far as lethargy and other side effects, so there may be days when I just need to stay home and not work at all. He said even if I get backlogged and we need to bring in someone to help out on a project, that's fine. We'll see. Whatever happens, he said he just don't want me to be worrying about losing my job or anything.