Saba Beats Cancer

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Frederick Douglass Interesting Mr. Douglass.  But we found out where the records are and of course they must be in different locations and not MDA.  The slides of the biopsy were "still being prepared" and you know that they have 72 hours they are not late.  I almost shouted -"I have cancer - I may not have 72 hours" but that seemed a tad dramatic. So went back to being the pleasant 57 y/o patient and thanked her and could she please make sure they went over as soon as possible. They courier them over to MDA so they will be over by Friday. In theory. It took a few calls but I know where they are and the number to call them.  The CT scans went out by fedex to arrive tomorrow as well - they have an actual tracking number. So once again, not at MDA yet but they are moving. So we should still be on track for Monday. We have made progress. Had to work from home today - a little too much pain and too much time cross-e...

One of my favorite movie lines was in Bridge of Spies when the Russian agent is in deep trouble and Tom Hanks is explaining his situation and that he could be put to death and the agent just calmly sits there. Tom gets exasperated and asks "Aren't your worried" and the guy calmly responds - "Would it help" When you have cancer, people expect you to be more worried, mad, down, - but I keep thinking about that line - "Would it help". We spend a lot of time researching everything that is popping up daily right now.  The best we can do to take charge is to figure it out and figure out the best path forward.  And that is working. Nothing will crack our positive outlook (though I did bump into the bed last night - hard - with my leg which required a "F***k EVERYTHING" from me - - which seems funny now.  Really - everything?). Tough to sleep last night before the big appointment today to hear the first plan of action from our Methodist docto...

So after thinking deadly blood clots and myeloma just two days ago - we get the call back from the doctor's office just now and based on the biopsy and scans it is cancer and it is Lymphoma.  YAY - only people in world high fiving each other of lymphoma but so much better odds than myeloma. We won't know the stage until Friday when I go in. And for those freaking out about the MD Anderson appointment - I AM STILL GOING TO MD ANDERSON - I just wanted to be able to bring the full results with me I just needed to postpone the appointment. So we have an appointment on Friday at 10:00 with Methodist oncology to get their take on everything. We have the MD Anderson appt set for Tuesday at 9:00 AM.  Both will have all the biopsies and scans to make a great decision on treatment!! We are on the move forward people!!!! So psyched. Still eating healthy, had a great walk this morning, soooooooo good to actually sleep last night. On a side note about hospitals - when they asked ...

Prevailing wisdom is lymphoma which after all the other words bantered around sounds pretty damned reasonable.  So the docs have all talked and are sending me home.  Manage the pain - we get the biopsy back in 2 days on yay or nay cancer - then a few more days to really see what type to come up with a lymphoma treatment plan. So lots of good things today so far!!! Getting outta here today. And jeez they finally brought food at 1:30 - oh well. Thanks for all the good thoughts and good stuff - we are building the momentum forward!!!!!

So the nurses aid came in at 4:45 to give me a sponge bath - though she had me do my own private parts  - even though I am perfectly capable of taking a shower before the biopsy. I got a new gown and change the sheets.  Then she left and said no drinking or eating - I'm thinking she is prepping me for a 6:00 AM biopsy - nope! It's not until 8:00.  They really don't want you to sleep here. And of course it's a hospital so I didn't actually leave until 9:30 - but that gave Dr, Heyne my Oncologist time to swing by and tell me the scans yesterday looked pretty good except the lymph nodes were pretty messed up but there's a lot worse things than lymphoma (warning -the down is coming so don't get to happy at this point). Yay - I can kick lymphoma pretty quickly and easily.  Lee asks - but what about the bone stuff??  Shoot - didn't ask was so happy about the good news for a change.  No blood clot in the brain and just lymphoma and I can probably leave toda...

Neurologist just came in - they can't see a clot on the scans!!  Good news - something else is all up in there but it aint a clot.  So nothing of massive urgency. Yay - more good news -we will take it. Lots of blood work now and have looked at results and will summarize in the morning  - very low Lypocytes 13 when it is supposed to be 25 -45 - I assume Mr Lumpkin is eating all the Lypocytes. Dinner was OK and I could eat healthy.  Did some more meditating because you wait a lot.  Either that or go crazy. Also really high Lactate Dehydrogenese - 593  when it is supposed to be 87-225. Got wheeled around in a bed to get all the CT Scans done.  Including intravenous contrast which definitely felt strange. Great people here - just everybody is being great.  First night sleep in a hospital.  Hopefully biopsy and neuro consult first thing in the morning. Thanks for all the good thoughts - let's see if I can sleep through the night here.

We went in for the first oncology visit at Methodist with Dr. Heyne and things were going well.  He pointed out the positives that my blood work was normal and then examined the lymph lumps and said gotta biopsy those bad boys and it turns out we wear the same underwear that is pretty awesome -  but then he finishes with  - 'you have a potential blood clot in your brain and I really don't feel comfortable sending you home with a potential stroke. He sent the MRI to the Methodist neurologist Dr. Volpe who concurred with him on the MRI that it was not a good thing to have a "p ossible partial dural venous sinus thrombosis which could account for the heterogeneous flow in the dural sinuses." So here we are - I will cop to the fact that the double vision thing was starting to bother me and was worried about driving like that.  So Lee and I were glad they recommended getting that fixed first. The sharp stabbing headaches and neck pain also are not fun.  So off ...

My doc told me about the seminal vesicle (insert bad joke here) - but apparently this last piece of the MRI never got posted. And I can tell you the right iliac crest is killin me today.  (true fact though I had to google half this crap again).  My orginial doc does not believe the large lumpkin is a lymph because it creepily soft and floating which is not the way a lymph will be.  Hope the get it out and biopsy soooooooon. EXAMINATION: MRI PELVIS W WO CONTRAST CLINICAL HISTORY: R22.40 Localized swelling mass and lump unspecified lower limb, To evaluate soft tissue mass TECHNIQUE: Multiplanar multisequence MR images of the pelvis were obtained pre- and post intravenous administration of Gadolinium. COMPARISON: No prior  IMPRESSION: 1. Extensive osseous metastatic disease of the pelvis, sacrum and proximal femurs is noted. There is a large lesion in the anterior right iliac crest with large soft tissue component. 2. Enlarged inguinal lymph nodes the larg...