A brief history

Well, you ask, what made me pick "To Hell and Back" as the title of my Blog........realistically it is the title of a war film released in 1955 starring Audie Murphy (I was a skinny 11 year old in 1955.)  But, really, in my minds eye my cancer battle is somewhat like a war drama.  And now I have been told the heavy artillery needs to be used to fight another battle in this war on cancer.

I would be re-miss if I did not go back a few years and tell you how I arrived at today.......once upon a time a 5' 2", yellow-haired, 63 year old (in 2008) was enjoying each and every day of her retirement, when after a seemingly innocent doctor visit for what I thought might be indigestion or gallbladder issues......my family doctor's nurse called and said the doctor wants to see you in his office this morning......well, I was in the midst of having my girlfriends over for our weekly watercolor "get-together" and lunch, so I innocently said, "can I come tomorrow, I have something planned for today?"  Well, that was the WRONG ANSWER, the nurse said emphatically, NO, the doctor wants to see you now......needless to say I thought to myself.....now you're scaring me....not a nice thing to do!  So on a beautiful summer day in 2008 I was diagnosed with Non- Hodgkin Follicular B-Cell Lymphoma.  Some folks would say, oh that's the good kind of cancer, personally I don't find any kind of cancer good, I guess they meant well, I forgive them.

I did not Blog or talk much about my first two rounds of chemotherapy.  The second round put me in remission for 2 years.  I was feeling so good, enjoying all my many hobbies and visiting family and friends often..........and then just when I was so comfortable with my new found life, a regular check up with a PET scan showed new cancer above and below my diaphragm.  Follows is a short timeline to get you to the present:

• October, 2011 - regular annual check up with PET Scan
• November 11, 2011 - Routine colonoscopy to check anemia and why blood in stool
• Slight deviation to the schedule - while having the colonoscopy my spleen was ruptured (they said later that thin folks are at a greater risk for this to happen.  Well, why didn't they tell me this earlier, I would have bulked up on pie and ice cream!!  Anyway, result was 5 days in the hospital.
• December 15, 2011 - Received the first kidney biopsy. (fine needle), pathology was inconclusive.
• I thought, okay great the PET and CT scans were wrong.....so Bill and I went off merrily to visit the kids and grandkids for 2 weeks at Christmas in Maryland.
• January, 2012 - arrived home to a message to call and schedule a second kidney biopsy, WHAT?????  My oncologist said he wanted a "do-over,"  not satisfied with first results,  Well that was disappointing to say the least!
• January 24, 2012 - Repeated kidney biopsy, this time using a core needle to get a better tissue sample.  This time pathology came back with Large B-Cell malignant Lymphoma.

• Okay, what does that mean......my oncologist said the original cancer had transformed and was now aggressive at a Stage III, above and below my diaphragm. (I won't write what my mind said when I heard those words, but use your imagination!) 

Now that I have brought you up to date:  Look at my picture, is that what an ill person looks like?  Well I can only say, don't judge a book by it's cover! 

I go to the hospital tomorrow, Feb. 21 to have a new port-a-cath put in, my previous one occluded at the end of my last chemo.  Then on Wed., Feb 22, I have the R-CHOP chemo as they affectionately call it.  I will keep you posted, so until then God Bless You All!