But here we go. Up and running with the blog again.
A month ago I sent out the following email to friends and family:
Hey All,
I’m sorry I’m not calling you all, but as you can see from the list above, there’s quite a few people here. Most of you know that I’ve had some health trouble recently. This morning, I was diagnosed with Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NLPHL). So… that sucks.
NLPHL is a relatively rare subtype of lymphoma, making up about 5% of Hodgkin’s disease diagnoses. The silver lining is that, even as lymphomas go, NLPHL is very treatable, generally with an excellent prognosis. I’m young, in good health otherwise, and we think we caught it early. This isn’t to decrease the severity of the situation, it’s still a big deal, but one that I feel like I’ll be able to handle. Johns Hopkins is one of the best cancer treatment facilities in the world, and I have an excellent support network of friends and family both here and around the country.
In the next week or so I’ll be meeting with an oncologist at Hopkins to start the process of staging, to figure out how far the disease has progressed. We’re pretty sure it’s early, but we need to be certain before starting the next step. Following staging we’ll put together a treatment plan, which sounds like it will probably include radiation, and chemotherapy if it has progressed far enough. This won’t be an easy process, but the oncologist comes highly recommended and I have the support of my supervisor at work and all of my professors.
I really appreciate all of your support, both in this difficult time and throughout my life. If I’ve forgotten anyone blatantly obvious, let me know. I’d rather tell everyone myself, and don’t want to miss anyone.
I love you all,
Oscar
_________
Update to follow in the next post.
Oscar,
Rebecca Sam and I are thinking about you. What is your address at school so we can send you something?
XOXO
Victoria