Lung update

I really wish I had some hard findings to report, but that's not the case. I don't know much more then I did when I left the hospital last Monday. My lung capacity has been depleted as a result of Bleomycin (a antitumor antibiotic). It is one of the 4 chemo drugs part of my protocal (ABVD). Meg Brown was telling me this was a drug that Lance Armstrong was told he could NOT be on if he ever wanted to race again. Not that I want to race again, but I liked the lung capacity I had. So, for right now I know my lungs were operating at a 140% - much higher them normal, but let's be honest I am a non-smoking swimmer, what would you expect?!? I am not at about 120%. Yes, higher then 100%, but my 100% is 140. Jennifer (Dr. Chen's assistant) had been bugging the hospital all last week for my results, they won't release them, yadda-yadda. When they finally faxed them over there was not an interpretation of them. So we have to wait until Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, Dr. Chen put in a pre-approval for me to see a lung doctor. That really made me happy. I have a lot of questions going through my head - what are the long terms effects with staying on Bleomycin? I know there is a really high success rate of people who have my cancer and the ABVD protocol, so by taking me off that, what are the success rates? What are my options?

On Tuesday, I have my PET scan, another assessment to determine when I am. I am meeting with Dr. Chen on the 13th to go over those results.

Today, Bethany is flying in from VA. She will be here all week and will be around for my treatment on Friday. It will be great to see her - last time I saw her was at her wedding :)