Last Thursday I took my last chemo treatment.  Rachel and I celebrated by going to a concert on Friday.  Saw Switchfoot, Jars of Clay, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Third Day.  Third Day and RR were awesome.  If you've never heard RR, you should check him out!  http://www.robertrandolph.net/index2.html..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I met with my radiation oncologist last Tuesday.  We have to wait on a few scans before we really make a plan of action.  But a minimum of 3 weeks and max of 5 weeks.  The side-effects list was longer than I anticipated.  And the way I'll get radiation is different than most.  Since Hodgkin's is not just in a location but in the blood, I have to have an entire area radiated.  Basically from my bottom jaw to my nipples.  That's a big area but he said it decreases the chances of the cancer coming back from 33% to about 5-10%.  So in that case, it's worth it.  Probable side effects= sore throat, dry mouth, loss of taste, fatigue.  Possible (under 5% chance) side effects= create a new cancer, lung problems, esophagus closing (um, nice).

I have a CT scan on September 8 and another PET scan on September 9.  This will determine the course of action.  It will also be used to see how much (if any) cancer is left.  Then we'll start the radiation probably September 22.  For those who don't know, radiation is much simpler than the chemo treatments.  I'll have to go every day for X number of weeks.  It takes about 30 minutes from the time I get there until I'm leaving.  They said the actual radiation is about 5 minutes.  But it's like the chemo in that the radiation builds up and will take a toll the longer I go.  But I figure if God got me through 6 months of the chemo, He can for sure handle a month of radiation.