Positive

I tested positive; my lymph nodes are still gripped by the Hodgkin's. I restart chemotherapy in about two weeks, though a different protocol - IGEV - than the old ABVD standby. If I were to name chemotherapy protocols, I'd give them cooler names. Gutbuster or Cranial Poundage or the ever popular This Is Gonna Kick Yo Ass.

"What protocol are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing the Italian Nutblaster. Which one are you doing?"

"The You'll Spend A Week In Bed After THIS One protocol."

I'm disappointed, of course, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't healthily scared. But it isn't as though I haven't done chemo before. Done it before, got through it, and I'll simply have to do it again.

If there are bright spots in any of this, they are:

1. The IGEV protocol is "well tolerated", meaning that I shouldn't projectile vomit, and

2. The IGEV protocol sets my stem cells up nicely for a stem cell transplant, if it comes to that, and

3. There's a very good chance that my wretched intestinal problems are the result not of my old chemotherapy protocol, but chronic overdosing with acetaminophen. Wouldn't THAT be a hoot?

4. My disease, which back around Thanksgiving was Stage-IV and plenty advanced, has retreated all the way back to Stage-I. My oncologist theorizes that the cancer survived in the two nodes in my groin either because their immense size shielded some cells from chemo, or that the cells themselves mutated and developed resistance to the ABVD drugs, which does happen.

And it occurs to me that I used the words "immense size" and "groin" in the same sentence without the slighest hint of self-consciousness. I'm not going crazy; I'm just trying to keep my immune system on the job with dumb jokes. This is no time for my T-lymphocytes (or whatever) to go on strike.