I thought I’d do a brief little pre-diagnosis timeline for those interested:
September 2010: I moved back from Chicago to finish up school in Ruston, Louisiana. As many of you know, I had lived in Chicago for 15 months doing an exchange program through Louisiana Tech as well as working at an investment bank. I came back to Ruston reluctantly with hopes of returning to Chicago after finishing the few months of school I had left. During my time in Chicago and upon my return, I had become the healthiest I’ve ever been. I was running 6 days a week, doing yoga, and eating a very veggie-centric diet. I had finally stopped obsessing about my weight. Little did I know.. angry little cancer cells were in cahoots with each other under the surface.
In mid-October, shortly after I returned to my parent’s house, I developed a rash that looked like bug bites. At first I thought I had brought back bed bugs from Chicago! Ew. Shortly after that I felt a lump in my right breast, and as any good worrier would do: I freaked. I had an ultrasound done and the doctors seemed to think the lump was innocuous.
Shortly after Halloween some flu-like symptoms came upon me. I had a persistent fever as well as sharp pains in the right side of my head. I continued to go to class with the help of 4000 mgs of Acetaminophen a day. :) One day in class I found an alarmingly large swollen lymph node behind my right ear. I consulted the advice of a few friends; Amelia said it looked like an alien! Cancer was the furthest thing from my mind. And at this point, the breast lump and the lymph node were entirely unrelated to me. I saw a doctor who told me the node was probably a manifestation of an infection.
Over Thanksgiving break I went to Chicago to see Brent and Amelia. I wound up being sick the entire week; it was so strange during this time period because I would go from feeling great to feeling sick in a matter of days. While I was up there I went to see my favorite doctor, Dr. Sharon Vocino at Northwestern, and she advised having the lymph node removed to assess it for cancer. Cancer, what!?
But look how healthy I look!
December 23, 2010: Dr. Kevin Marler at Christus Schumpert in Shreveport removed the lymph node behind my ear. As I was coming out of Anesthesia he told me that the lymph node looked cancerous.
January 5, 2011: Appointment at MD Anderson for a second opinion
January 7, 2011: Mom had a car wreck and spiraled into depression. Fortunately my dad had been through this before with her 22 years ago when I was born.
January 9, 2011: 8:30PM: phone call from Dr. Samaniego at MD Anderson. My dad and I listened hovered over my cell phone as he told me the diagnosis: Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma ALK pos. Treatment: CHOP chemotherapy every 21 days for 6 rounds.
January 12, 2011: Dad and I went to appointment with Dr. Scott Boniol in Shreveport. Dr. B gave the very same diagnosis as MD Anderson with the same treatment plan. He explained in great detail T-cell lymphomas and my specific kind. But the prognosis is good!
January 19, 2011: PET scan. PET scans are kind of fun. You get a boatload of sugar with a radioactive marker through your veins. Unfortunately you don’t get to consume the sugar the fun way. Because cancer cells love sugar (just like their host, yours truly) they are much more active like a bunch of ants. After letting them percolate for an hour, you head to a machine that takes pictures of your insides. Similar to an MRI.
The PET scan results showed that I have activity in my neck, throat, stomach and bone marrow.
January 22, 2011: Went to St. Francis North Monroe Hospital for pain in my belly. fever: 103.5. won’t ever go there again. terrible nurses.
January 24, 2011: Appt with Dr. B to assess the next steps
January 28, 2011: Bone Marrow biopsy! not bad at all thanks to Dr. B and his great team.
And that pretty much brings you up to date. I had my medi port surgery yesterday. It is painful but that’s to be expected for a couple of days. It is basically a device surgically installed under the skin, sewn into a large vein for easy access to the veins. Which means no more IVs for me! Thank goodness!
