Good News / Bad News
I know what you want first, don’t worry. Today we got a piece of “good news”. Thank goodness for small favors. or quick results from tests at Kaiser. This morning I got the results from Tuesday’s PET Scan. (See Picture Below) No evidence of any abnormal cells anywhere else in my body except for the lower right abdomen that we already knew about. This is actually great news! This means the cancer hasn’t spread outside of the area where my tumor is. It’s not in my lungs. or any other organs, and seems to be all contained. This could mean we’ve caught this cancer early and that perhaps I’m not yet at stage 4. I got this news on the way to my bone marrow biopsy - which is where the bad news comes in. Not to worry too much - they got what they needed and the biopsy was successful, it was just much more painful that I was hoping it would be. As you know from the last post, I made the mistake in googling it, which is how I learned that it would involve an incision into my hip and a long needle into my pelvic bone - and that must have been where I stopped reading. I know I definitely didn’t read the part about the electric drill. That’s right, you heard me. Like a dentist drill. I mean, I guess that makes sense - why did I assume that a needle could go through my bone, but I did. Also - I had to lay on my stomach for the procedure. I could tell they felt bad - knowing where my pain is and how they have to position me. There’s really no position that’s comfortable for me at the moment, but laying on my stomach puts pressure on the tumor which cuts off the circulation to my leg causing the most excruciating pain. Like electric shock sending sparks into my thigh. They gave me a pillow to rest my tumor stomach on and 2 ice packs to cool the pain in my leg and asked me to stay still. I did my best, and honestly if my leg wasn’t causing so much pain, it may not have been as terrible of an experience. Now back to the procedure - I can’t express enough how jarring it is to be in a full panic and pain spasm and then to hear the sound of an electric drill. I sure didn’t see that laying on the tray when I walked in. I felt a lot of pressure and rattling in my bones, but I wish that was the worst of it. Once they break through the bone, then the needle comes in, That was the worst part - the actual extraction of the marrow. She said, “Breath deep and count backwards from 30 and it will all be over.” And just like that it was all over. They slapped a band-aid on (okay several bandages) and then I sprung up to stop the throbbing pain in my thigh. They assured me that they got what they needed and that I did a great job as they cleaned up the mascara stained pillows. Next up was, you guessed it, more blood work - I think 8 vials of blood today was enough. Thanks to my mom for driving me there and back and also for the retail therapy on the way home! I’m so grateful for everyone who reached out to me today to wish me luck. Thank you all for your good vibes or prayers or whatever - I’ll take them all. Or if you have any memes of otters holding hands - those help too :-) I do feel like I’m getting closer to relief. Just a few more days before I get to meet my oncologist and map out my treatment plan. I’m actually looking forward to chemo because I know that’s the only way to finally alleviate this pain. So next up is the rescheduled Echocardiagrom on Monday and then the oncologist appointment on Tuesday. Oh and new weird symptom alert - I’m itchy all up and down my arms and legs - like itching deep under the skin - it’s very annoying. Turns out this is a common symptom of Lymphoma cancers. Something to do with chemicals released by your immune system, as part of its reaction against the lymphoma cells. These chemicals irritate the nerves in your skin and make it itch. 1 in 4 people with lymphoma get the itches (lucky me).
