Just last week we found out that our 17 year old granddaughter (Brooke Salazar) has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. A year ago she was having difficulty breathing when she ran the bases (she has always been in All-Star softball and was often playing in the Championships). Since she is the fastest runner on her team, they took her to her pediatrican to see what was wrong. But her pediatrician, instead of doing any tests, just told her that she was “out of shape”!

Two weeks ago (2/1/2009) she collapsed during a game and they rushed her to the ER. The doctor noticed that she had “clubbing” of her fingertips (the tips of her fingers got wider and the nails started to curve downwards). This is a sign of a lack of oxygen into her bloodstream. The doctor ordered some tests for her heart - and EKG, an echocardiogram, and a chest x-ray (2/3/2009). They did the chest x-ray first and found a mass that was 6 centimeters by 8 centimeters and it was pressing on her heart and wrapped around her aorta and airway. This was the reason she was having trouble breathing and getting chest pains when she ran.

That night (2/3/2009) they admitted her to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans (that’s where I’m from, originally and my family still lives there) and started doing every test in the book - CT scan, MRI, PET scan, etc. They put her partially under anesthesia and removed 90% of a lymph node in her right shoulder, took samples of bone marrow from her hips, and installed a “central line” for administering medicine and drawing blood.

Last Friday (1/6/2009) they gave us the news that it was definitely Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Because of where it is they said they would not do surgery. She’s going to have a course of chemotherapy and possibly radiation therapy. Saturday night (1/7/2009) they started the first round of chemo - they’re using “Red Devil”, one of the most potent of this new generation of chemo. It was really scary for her when they gave her a mouth wash they said would help keep her from having sores in her mouth; and when they told us we had to put on heavy rubber gloves to handle her urine collector when we measured her “output”.

She had her third (and last for this go-round) chemo on Monday night (2/9/2009), and she may get to go home from the hospital later today (2/11/2009) or tomorrow. They will show my daughter (Erin) how to flush out her “central line” and administer the medications that she has to take home with her.

Linda Wauson gave me the link to your site, and here I am! ;> We would very much like to hear and tips you may have for getting Brooke through the chemo with as few side effects as possible. Just knowing that another young person her age has gone through this and survived is very encouraging to her.

Sorry about the long post, it’s hard to tell a story like that in just a few words.

Hugs,

Lori

Your fight and determination to Live a QUALITY of Life will sustain you and bring HOPE to others.

I am a co-survivor / caregiver and a lover of golf.

Joey - Your ROCK !