I have to laugh out loud at commercials for medications alleviating some mild annoyance - say, heartburn - that have a super-speedy disclaimer at the end enumerating the possible side effects of trouble breathing, heart attack, stroke, death...I think I'll take the heartburn! That's a little how I feel after a closer look at the treatment options for Hodgkins. While the chance of a cure is very good, the tricky part is weighing the risks of treatments that have minor side effects like hair loss and major ones like infertility, future cancers, and a host of other unhappy conditions.
Sam and I met with a second doctor on Tuesday to get an additional perspective on Hodgkins and treatment. Put simply, Doctor #1 at the first hospital thinks the best route is chemo and radiation, while Doctor #2 at another hospital thinks more chemo and no radiation is the best route, as radiation poses a higher risk of causing cancer 10, 20 or 30 years down the line.
Now we have to choose, and we have to do it soon. At least all these preliminary tests are giving us time to decide what treatment we want, but decision day is practically upon us. We need God's wisdom.
Throw in the mix that my health insurance co. is asking questions...unlucky for them, I switched to them just a week before being diagnosed, so they are suspicious. Understandable. I'll just have to call and explain that this came out of the blue on my radar as well.
But I am reminded that our God is so merciful - for he protected my brother yesterday when a drunk driver T-boned and totaled his car on the way home from his first day at work. A couple feet in one direction, and the impact would have done serious damage to Jonathan. Thank you, God, for keeping him from harm.
Jonathan walked away with only a scratch on his hand.
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