Friday, November 14, 2008

My Life -- Day 2

Day 2 of my life started similar to most other days in my life...
- Woke up around 04:00, laid in bed for a while.
- Finally got up around 05:30.
- Took the dog for a walk.
- Went to the gym for a little bit.
- Now I'm at work.

Day 1 was a little different...

- Woke up around 04:00, laid in bed for a while.
...
- 11:40 - told I have Follicular Lymphoma (cancer).

So today is the 2nd day of the rest of my life.

Why am I blogging this? It's really for others who have the same thing. I'm assuming my thought process isn't unique.

First, you accept what you have.
Second, you start to ask, "what happens now?"

Hopefully, this will help to answer some of those questions for others who develop this cancer.

I hope (meaning I'm not a consistent blogger with my other blog) to chronicle my experience for others to read, so that they can have an answer to "what happens now?"

So what happens now? Well on 11/25/2008 I have an appointment with an oncologist. I was diagonsed by an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor -- lumps in my neck area were the start of this whole experience.

On 11/25, I'll start the staging process -- a series of tests that will determine exactly how far along the cancer is, and what the plan of attack will be. I don't know how long this process takes yet, but I'm assuming it won't take all that long. From what I understand the process consists of:

Blood Tests
Bone Marrow Tests
X-Rays and/or CT-Scans
Possible PET Scans

To date, I've had some blood tests, CT-Scan of my neck, and 2 biopsies... the first, they used a needle to take a sample of the lump -- that was "inconclusive", the second they performed surgery to remove a lymph node, and then biopsy the whole freakin' thing. These were all to determine what I have. They start all over again, now that they know exactly what to look for.

All of that took about 2 weeks (maybe a little over).

So here we are.

What to expect so far...

(I'm not really a "worrier" so remember that when you read this...)

- There will be tears at some point, accept this and move on.
- I have questions about when do tell people. For me it's the holiday season - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year.. I don't want to dampen the spirit, especially since all I know is that I have this particular cancer... nothing about what stage, treatments, or prognosis. Would rather wait and give more information to people.
- There is concern because of the "unknown".
- There will be "googling"... probably how you wound up here. Right now, I'm new to the stuff you'll find, I would just caution to take everything slowly -- including this blog.
- You'll need to understand that everybody is different, and that every case is different.
- You'll find statistics about survival rates, they are what they are. Remember, every case is different.
- Hopefully you'll have support from those around you. The few who know so far have offered to help in any way they can. -- and I thank them all!

1 comment:

Old Man Kirby said...

Remember anything you need, as long as it isn't:
1) Money
2) Compassion
3) Sympathy
4) Good Feelings
5) Moral Support

As long as it isn't one of those above things I am there for you. Oh and I am not wiping your butt after any kind of explosive diarrhea or anytime other time.

But as long as it isn't one of those things me and my family are here for you. Ok well my family will be there for you, I am forgetful and heartless.