Eliana and I arrived in Miami on Thursday morning and we were welcomed by a very busy and chaotic day. From the minute we landed in Miami, we were running around nonstop. My mother, Eliana and I went straight from the airport to the Sylvester Cancer Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in downtown Miami for some appointments and tests. Traffic was the usual Miami chaos and we barely made my appointments.
On Thursday, I got two tests done: a spiral ct scan and a sonogram.
A spiral (or helical) CT scan is a new kind of CT. During a spiral CT, the x-ray machine rotates continuously around the body, following a spiral path to make cross-sectional pictures of the body. The doctor told me that the benefits of spiral CT are:
- It can be used to make 3–dimensional pictures of areas inside the body;
- It may detect small abnormal areas better than conventional CT; and
- It is faster, so the test takes less time than a conventional CT which is fantastic because I am claustrophobic!
The ct scan was very neat! very state of the art and way better than the conventional Ct scan where you lay in a tube for up to an hour.
The sonogram is used to assess the tumor and to provide a better understanding of its size and grade, along with the biopsy that I already did.
The radiologists confirmed an enlarged lymph node which could mean a spread of the cancer or a different kind of cancer altogether. Clearly that kind of news freaked me out just a tad. I was happy that I would see the oncologist on Friday.
Both tests took roughly about an hour and a half and we were on our way home by late afternoon. Eliana behaved very well and did not give my mother much trouble. I spent the rest of the evening catching up with my parents. We sat and watched the season premier of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. I tried to put Eliana down early as I anticipated a very busy day on Friday.
On Friday, We headed back to the Cancer Center to meet with our main doctor and perhaps other doctors at the center. The doctor I met with reviewed all of my tests and confirmed that I have an enlarged lymph node and that there is a concern that the cancer either spread or that I may have renal lymphoma. Either way, I needed more tests. I proceeded to spend the next 3 hours doing more tests!- more blood work, more x-rays, more check-ups. I felt like a medical Ginny pig!.
3 hours and world of pain later, the doctor sat me down and began to explain my condition and next steps. We wouldn't know if I was strong enough for immunotherapy until Saturday when he would receive all the results of the tests. The fact that I am an otherwise healthy person works for and against me. The good news is that I am strong enough to fight the cancer and to respond to treatment at a rather quick pace- the bad news is that because I have a high metabolism and I am healthy, my cancer cells are multiplying at a higher and faster speed than most. In other words- time is of the essence.
The doctor also suggested that I get a second opinion at the National Cancer Institute at NIH. They are the creators of the immunotherapy and are the cutting edge center for everything cancer. He has a colleague that I could speak with and would provide me with a very quick second opinion. The doctor wants to start treatment as early as next week. He suggests: a round of chemotherapy and two rounds of immunotherapy. If immunotherapy is successful (a 50 percent chance), then in theory the cancer would be gone and I would be good as new. If immunotherapy does not work, then we risk the cancer spreading and we would need to decide and take next steps.
I am not thinking about the what if it doesn't work.. so we will go with the positive 50 percent for now.
That's all the information for now. Will know more by the end of the weekend. It is all hitting home like a wall of bricks. I could start treatment as early as next week. Scared, but anxious to start a treatment.
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the only one who gets burned." Buddha.
3 hours and world of pain later, the doctor sat me down and began to explain my condition and next steps. We wouldn't know if I was strong enough for immunotherapy until Saturday when he would receive all the results of the tests. The fact that I am an otherwise healthy person works for and against me. The good news is that I am strong enough to fight the cancer and to respond to treatment at a rather quick pace- the bad news is that because I have a high metabolism and I am healthy, my cancer cells are multiplying at a higher and faster speed than most. In other words- time is of the essence.
The doctor also suggested that I get a second opinion at the National Cancer Institute at NIH. They are the creators of the immunotherapy and are the cutting edge center for everything cancer. He has a colleague that I could speak with and would provide me with a very quick second opinion. The doctor wants to start treatment as early as next week. He suggests: a round of chemotherapy and two rounds of immunotherapy. If immunotherapy is successful (a 50 percent chance), then in theory the cancer would be gone and I would be good as new. If immunotherapy does not work, then we risk the cancer spreading and we would need to decide and take next steps.
I am not thinking about the what if it doesn't work.. so we will go with the positive 50 percent for now.
That's all the information for now. Will know more by the end of the weekend. It is all hitting home like a wall of bricks. I could start treatment as early as next week. Scared, but anxious to start a treatment.
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the only one who gets burned." Buddha.
No comments:
Post a Comment