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Is It Safe To Skip The Final Cycle Of Chemotherapy For Hodgkin Lymphoma?
Good Evening, My wife was diagnosed with Nodular Sclerosis Hodgkins Lymphoma in August of 2014. She has been on the chemo regimen of ABVD and has completed 5 cycles and it has been assessed that she is experiencing effects of bleomycin toxicity. She has been neutropenic throughout the process and has been receiving two Neupogen shots on the days prior to her treatment. She went to the ER on Sunday in regards to severe pain in the area of her spleen. CT Scans were completed and the spleen was determined to be okay. A 3 mm nodule was found in her lung and possible polyps in her GI tract. When she asked her oncologist about the issues she was facing on Monday the oncologist took offense to her questioning the treatment process and told her that since she has so many concerns that she would just cancel her final cycle. My wife attempted to call and set up the appointments to confirm them and finish the last cycle of the ABVD, but they won t schedule her without the approval of the oncologist and she won t return our phone call. She should have a treatment Friday but it doesn t appear that it will happen (at least on schedule now). My question is how much effect will missing this last cycle have? She had a PET Scan revealing complete metabolic remission after 3 cycles. We are just worried that not finishing the last cycle will increase the possibility of the cancer returning. We are also concerned that the last cycle might in and of itself cause serious damage to her. Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Mon, 23 Feb 2015
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Is It Safe To Skip The Final Cycle Of Chemotherapy For Hodgkin Lymphoma?