I have a request for my fiance

I'm late to the party but I can't sleep so oh well. I'm 27 and was diagnosed with stage 4b Hodgkins lymphoma back in Sept of 2015. To make matters worse my cancer was so advanced that I developed a really rare blood disorder as well. "HL is the cancer to have", said my oncologist. I couldn't believe my ears but after doing some research I understood what she meant. Even at stage 4b I still had a 75% survivors chance. That number includes elderly people and people who were previously ill. I was in the best shape of my life at the time. I had a fighting chance. The thing that scared me most was the blood disorder (HLH). Long story short chemo is terrible. A friend of mine who happens to be a breast cancer survivor said it best, "Chemo is when they bring you as close to death as possible and then bring you back to life." Your fiance will most likely go through 6 months of ABVD chemo. It'll take about 2-3 hours and will most likely be bi weekly. For me, towards the end is when it got the toughest. I'd sleep through my infusions. I ended up relying on cannabis to help with my side effects as well as Marinol. If you want some tips on how to properly utilize cannabis for side effects feel free to PM me. Lastly, I'll add some side effects to look out for. ABVD is four different drugs. The B is Bleomycin. This bitch can cause lung toxicity. Pay attention to how she breaths and if she gets a cough let your oncologist know asap. Another big one for me is the V. Stands for vinblastine. I've read of people with lesser stages of HL having this one excluded from their treatment after a while. Vinblastine can and did cause peripheral neuropathy. If mine doesn't go away in the next couple of months then it's most likely permanent. But, I've been in remission now since my half way mark of chemo, I have no evidence of disease for HLH, my weight is back up to 195 from 150, and I'm back to work full-time with my beard slowly starting to come back. Chemo is scary, unknown, and surreal but it can and does work. This post turned into a wall of text and I honestly don't remember if you were looking for all this information. I hope it helps. Your fiance has got this though! Especially with a guy like you in her corner. Good luck to you both and again feel free to PM me anytime bro.

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