Diagnosed Classical HL

Hi Konstance and a warm welcome to this corner of the Community although I am always sorry to see folks joining us. I am Mike and I help out around our various Lymphoma groups. 

I don’t have Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) but I was diagnosed back in 1999 with a rare, incurable type of NHL Stage 4a so although my Lymphoma ‘type’ is different I understand the challenges of this journey well.

You are well into the treatment planing stage. AVBD is the normal first line treatment used for HL and although it can be full on it is all do-able and provides great results. You may find this link from the Lymphoma Action website as it is a collection of Top Tips for the day of your Chemotherapy

There have been a few new members post in the group over the past week so do have a look at the other posts and see what they are saying (hit the group heading and you will see all the posts listed)

As a way of some encouragement you may want to listen to this link Kicking on - Robbie Fergusson. I also volunteer for Lymphoma Actuin. Back in Aug 2021 I did a Lymphoma Voices Interview with Robbie Fergusson who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma back in 2013 at the age of 20. Robbie goes on to talk about his diagnosis, treatment, recovery and eventually getting back to playing professional Rugby Union, playing for the Scotland 7s International Team and representing Team GB in the Rugby 7s Team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Always around to chat at any time.

Hi I was where you are September 2020. Scarey isn’t it , first thing is your team all know far more than Dr Google so on no account consultant Dr Google as it’s purpose is to sell advertising space not to help you. The best piece of advise I was given by my CSN was don’t prejudge treatments because we are all different and will be effected differently by any given treatment. The only thing you can achieve by researching or asking others is your mind to create some side effects for you that you might otherwise have not had. 
I took her advise and for me Chemo wasn’t bad at all, very doable. Get diet advise from your team to avoid eating anything that might give you infections that can delay treatment. Don’t worry too much about staging , it’s really only to determine the length of your treatment plan and not really indicative of outcomes. I was stage 4b and all clear in 3 months. I remain in remission 12 months later. 
Best of luck just trust your team. 
Oh and get a PICC line , it speeds up treatment and stops your veins collapsing, fewer needles what’s not to like ?

Thanks so much for your reply and guidance. It is a bit scary. I am going to ask for a PICC line as my veins aren't great even blood tests can be difficult sometimes. Agree about Dr Google. Going to listen to my team as I feel I'm in good hands. Glad that you are all clear now. Your comments really helped. 

Thanks, will take a look at the links. I've got a booklet from Lymphoma Action which has been very useful in understanding it all.

You are very welcome, I was very anxious waiting for all the diagnostic tests to come back. When they did it was stage 4b so the worrying achieved nothing . Try not to it only makes things worse. I n’t know if you are having B symptoms my worst was drenching nightsweats. Every night I was getting through 3 bath sheets soaked through until 1 dose of chemotherapy stopped it dead . It’s fast workg medicine so you will be feeling better very soon.

Thank you. My B symptom is itchy skin, which I'm managing to cope with. Hopefully will get all tests done soon and start my treatment. All the best.