Appointment with Dr.Advani

We are still waiting for the appointment maker to call us about his Appt. he needs with Dr. Advani.



Marcel is sad that his previous Lymphoma oncologist (Sandra Horning) is no longer here at Stanford. She was amazing! She had battled cancer once (not sure what type). She was the #2 Hodgkin’s doctor in the world. When marcel went to see her 2 years ago, she created a personalized chemo for Marcel, and it knocked the cancer out in 2 treatments (they were just planning the cancer to shrink to prepare for the BMT). We found out that she left to work for a pharmaceutical company  hopefully she is creating new chemo’s that will save many lives! She was all about the patient, Marcel loved this because he was used to the Dr.’s talking to his father when we lived in Lebanon….then when we arrived in the states, most of his Dr.’s would speak to me…I have no idea why??? But Dr. Horning would give me a small “Hi” and focus completely on Marcel…and if I interrupted, she gave me a look, and then turned her whole body toward Marcel. I know it doesn’t sound nice, basically since she was a patient once, she knew the ins and outs.






Waiting is the worst… it’s been driving my mind crazy. But in the craziness I’ve tried to be a little pro-active.


Has anyone ever watched Dr. OZ? I don’t watch prime time TV much because I’m always at work….but I usually catch Thursday episodes of Dr. OZ. The stuff he puts on his show always gets me thinking about healthier ways to live. Well on a recent episode he was talking about the “Alkaline Diet”. It’s not really a diet; it’s more like choosing the foods that are best for your body’s PH system. And he made a statement that makes me want to live this diet in our home. He said “if I had cancer, I would be on the alkaline diet” I don’t know much about it, but basically everything we eat is either an acid or an alkaline. He said that the reason no one ever gets heart cancer, is because of the PH system in the heart is Alkaline. Supposedly the best foods to eat are alkaline and ideally we should be eating 80% alkaline and 20% acid. I will research this all week…and see how it works. I think that I may even keep track of our menu here. When we start it.


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I just got a call from the appointment setter; his appointment is February 8th at 9:15am…..


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I just want to thank everyone for all of your prayers and kind wishes. It really means a lot to both Marcel and me. Monday I showed him both this blog and my personal blog…honestly, he was crying when he read the kinds words of those he doesn’t even know. It means so much!


Thank you all!

the short story.....

i decided to start this blog so that i can be open and honest about my husbands journey with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  to begain with i will copy and past a post i made yesterday on my personal blog.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010


Marcel relapsed

if youve read my blog for a while..you know all of the struggles my husband has been through.

i'm at work...and just got back from Marcels follow up Dr. appt to give the results of his recent scan. he relapsed and has Hodgkins Lymphoma again.

what does this mean for him...i have no idea.

Marcel was first diagnosed in Lebanon on his birthday in April 2006. we think he may have had it since the summer of 2005, because thats when we noticed swollen lymph nodes under his armpit. he casually asked a pharmacist and they told him it was an infection so they gave him antibiotics. (anyone who lives in Lebanon knows that many people use the pharmacys as a advice nurse, and usually treat themselves because many drugs dont need an actual prescription).

he started chemo in Lebanon, and in July 2006 when the war happened, we came back to States durring the evacuation. he only missed his next chemo by a few days...and then he was set up here with a new doctor and resumed treatment. so from August 2006-October 2006 he was getting his basic chemo...then they told us the cancer was growing. they started giving him a series of high dose chemo..and in december 2006 they reffered us Stanford and told us he needed a bone marrow transplant. so the long journey begain. he had his first bone marrow transplant in march 2007. they used his own cells for this. he received a clean scan in august 2007. in spring of 2008 he had a follow up scan. it came up very bad....so they told him he needed another bone marrow transplant using his brothers cells. first they let him return to lebanon for 2 weeks before starting treatment (just in case). they gave him a lot of high dose chemo...and then in august 2008 prepared him for his 2nd BMT. he received his brothers cells in september 2008.

since then he has had scans every 6 months..and we are always so grateful to get good news.

today they told us the scan showed new growth in random places.

the plan right now is...he will see the hodgkins Dr. within 3 weeks...and return to his BMT doctor within 6 weeks. she (his BMT Dr.Laport) said she's like him to get more chemo and then go from their..maybe even start out with an oral chemo??? we've never heard of chemo in a pill. but we'll see what it does.

honestly i dont even know what i feel. i dont think he knows what he feels eaither so i will wait to ask him. give it some time to digest.

please no matter your relgion....please keep my husband in your prayers.

i know that so many people out there have things worse..and were lucky to have some options left. i know that we are blessed...but i dont want my husband to go through this anymore...i want him healthy!