Sloan Kettering Update

Yesterday, Billy and his brother Micheal went to Sloan Kettering. Believe it or not, Billy was actually on time for his appointment, but had to wait in the lobby for 2 hours before his name was called... as you probably have guessed, this did not go over well. Fortunately, in the end it was worth it. The doctor at Sloan was very pleased with what Dr. Bedner at Hunterdon had said and recommended. Apparently the good doctors at Hunterdon are very up to speed with the latest treatment plans. Sloan recommended Billy to stay with Hunterdon for his Chemo treatments, but to come to Sloan in NYC for his radiation therapy. Radiation is very risky, especially when it is dealing so closely to the heart. It is better to go to the place that does it more often, and has the latest and greatest methods. We agree.
Now, we were worried that because we found the new lump Billy would be moved to stage 3.. Normally this would be so, however, because the lump is still "above" the diaphragm, he still remains stage 2. They also said that the form of Hodgkin's he has is one of the more aggressive diseases. But, believe it or not, this is good news. He said that the more aggressive diseases do better with chemo... a bit confusing, I agree.
So, this is the plan. Today Billy went to Hunterdon for a Pulmonary test. This is to test his lungs. He has to go blow into a tube. He does not have to have a bone marrow test, but he does have to have a PET scan. That is going to be done on Monday. Then on Wednesday of next week, he will go in for his first 4 hours of chemo. Chemo is scheduled to be 8 treatments. It is going to be administered once every 2 weeks, then he will be reevaluated. If all is well, then he will go to NYC for Radiation. That will be 5 days a week for 2 weeks.