The Call

I was siting at my desk and expecting the call from Dr. Seifter. Dr. Wayne Koch had called home last night but we missed the call. When I called Dr. Koch's office I found out he was out for the day. So I asked his office manager Katie to forward the results to Dr. Seifter. Within a half hour Dr. Seifter called me.

It was a very matter-of-fact call, the conversation lasted maybe 5 minutes. I tried to scribble notes, forgetting that I would get a copy of the complete diagnosis in my email InBox within the hour. He mentioned "Classic type" and there was no sign of Epstein-Barr. I asked about what kind of good news I could give my family and friends. He talked about HL being one of the most curable forms of cancer with cure rates as high as 95% range (lower stages being better). He mentioned the preferred treatment regiment called ABVD. What I appreciate the most is that Dr. Seifter had a plan and laid it out for me. We need to stage HL and then determine the exact treatment regimen. Most likely I was looking at chemotherapy with ABVD. But first, time for more tests. First a PET/CT  then an echocardiogram (heart baseline), and a pulmonary baseline. I remember laughing when he asked about my schedule - as if anything would get in the way of me getting HL out of my body. My response was something along the lines of "You schedule it and I’ll be there." He told me to expect a call within a few hours with the schedule for the tests.

After I hung up, I sat there thinking about what had just occurred. Time to call my wife, parents, brother and sister.

Jen was at her desk. She knew why I was calling. She listened patiently and was remarkably calm as I told her what I knew. Like me, she had so many more questions than answers. We talked for about 5 minutes, no tears, just some facts and an outline of a forward plan. I know now that when we hung up she called our friend Lisa and they both shed some tears, which was good for her.

I called my mom's cell phone. I knew she was in Paris with dad and expecting that I would call either today or tomorrow. She was walking in the rain when we talked. I choked up a little bit as I explained the diagnosis but her stoicism pulled me through. I was amazed at our conversation given this was the second time in her life she was being told that her son had cancer. She listened so well and then asked direct and simple questions. I would call back later when she could put me on speakerphone with dad knowing that she wouldn't be able to answer all his questions. During our conversation my mind went back to where I was when she and dad called me to tell me Little Pete (my "big" brother) had squamous-cell carcinoma on his tonsil. I was driving home on the Washington beltway just past River Road. Later that day I couldn't recall the rest of that trip home. And like my big bro, I look forward to being a cancer survivor. I just hope he and I are taking the only two for the team - enough already!

And just like that Lisa showed up at my office 15 minutes after I talked to Jen. She gave me a hug, and then got down to the business of helping me make sense of what was coming next. Just as soon as Lisa left her husband John called. "That just sucks" he said, and I couldn't agree more. I truly appreciated that he just said what was on his mind. This is just the initial show of support from an incredible network of family and friends that is always there for us.

Time to send an email to family and friends with more detail. It wasn't lost on me that it was Friday and most of the recipients of the email had no idea what was coming. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry. I just sat there trying to compose an email that was eventually titled "The results Are In..." (See the "Sucker Punch" blog entry). The first half dozen times I tried to type the words "A couple hours ago I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL)" I had to stop, take a deep breath, wipe away some tears, and try to gather my thoughts. With my door closed, I started an outline for the email.

I had an 11am meeting in my office so I had to gather my thoughts and momentarily set aside the diagnosis in order to conduct the 40-minute meeting. It was a good diversion, talking about opportunities for one of my team to enhance their image and increase their exposure to executive level management.

With my meeting complete, I finished my first email during lunch and sent it off.

It was time to get more answers and develop the detailed plan as I waited for Dr. Seifter's next call. And true to form, he called around 2pm with the schedule for next week. PET/CT on Monday, echocardiogram on Thursday, and pulmonary baseline on Friday.

Time to get busy getting rid of HL.