It’s bad. She has stage IV lymphoma. This means that the lymphoma cells are present both above and below her diaphram, and in at least two organs. In her case, it’s worse. She’s not borderline stage IV, she’s full blown. It’s in at least 4 organs and they found cells free floating in her blood. And to top that off, it’s the type that’s not curable. The best you can do is put it in remission. The average expectency for someone with her stage and type of L. is 6-8 years. But, she’s not at an average stage of advancement, she’s beyond that.

The treatment is going to be just prednisone for the next 3 weeks to give her baby more time to develop. Then they are going to do a C section when the child is only 4 weeks premature. Then they are going to start her on 2 months of mild chemo as a starter. Then she’ll have at least 6 months of strong chemo. They are going to kill her bone marrow entirely and she’ll have to have a bone marrow transplant.

Once all that’s done, then it will be a waiting game to see if/when it comes back. Worst case is that the chemo doesn’t even fully put it into remission. Either way, the only thing left after the chemo will be the cells that were immune to the chemo treatment, so a second round of chemo is a waste of time. There will be nothing to be done unless some new drugs come on the market between now and then.

She went into a store to buy some baby furniture the other day. Then the reality of her situation and what it might mean to her ever getting to see her daughter grow up hit her. She had to have her husband help her out of the store without buying anything because she couldn’t stop crying.