Status Update: April 2008

Just two days after leaving the hospital I had another episode of tachycardia, and additionally my legs felt so week I had to have help climbing a set of three stairs.  The bump on my cheek was also growing.  The next day I was readmitted to the hospital, and this time my stay would be for almost the full month.  The first thing they found - via CT scan - was some fairly large pulmonary embolisms (blod clots in my chest).  They immediately put me on a blood thinner IV.  Blood thinners don't shrink blod clots, but they stop them from growing, and that allows your own body's natural anti-bodies to consume them.  I stayed on blood thinners for over a year before they took me off them again.

Then they brought in all sorts of specialists to see me.  One of the test results indicated that my thyroid was running high, which helped to explain the weight loss.  And for the first time they attempted a needle aspiration biopsy of tissue - the bump on my cheek, plus a couple others on my legs (near my knees).  I also had one in the crease of my thigh and hip, which they didn't biopsy.  The results were inconclusive, and they did a second, core biopsy on my cheek.  After two different tests procedures, they finally had a diagnosis - lymphoma.

My first response was confusion.  I had to ask the doctor if lymphoma was cancer.  My second response was relief.  I was anxious to start chemo in an attempt to reduce the size of the mass on my cheek, which was now very big and growing rapidly.  It was deforming the whole side of my face, and pressing against my eye on top, and my nose on the side.

Within two days of the diagnosis they had installed a porta-cath in my chest.  This is a small plastic port with a thin catheter.  The whole thing resides under your skin, with the catheter threaded into the large vein to your heart for instant IV access.  A needle is inserted through the skin and into the port and if you need an IV drip, and IV line is threaded in.  They did this because they were having trouble with my veins (they were collapsing) and needed to have clear access for chemotherapy.

Late that night - after the porta-cath was installed - I had my first session of chemo.  I had an odd phsycial reaction - extreme cold with shivers that wouldn't stop.  The nurse brought me a hot cup of tea, but I couldn't even hold it at first, I was shaking so bad.  It lasted for about ten minutes and then stopped.  I was lucky - if it had lasted much longer they would have stopped the chemo.  By about 2 am that morning they were through administering the first chemo round.  A few hours later I held my finger up to the mass and found it fit between it and my eye, and between it and my nose.  The mass had very quickly responded to the chemo and was already reducing in size.  I was tremendously relieved.