Dying, Cancer, and Corporate Healthcare Decisions

When my cancer was offially diagnosed in may 2004, I was devastated, it was a secret I kept from my family until after the holidays that would be coming up in a few months. My doctor insisted we start treatment right away and go after it aggressively. I agreed with him, as I wanted to fight and win. We made a plan that required 8 treatments with 2 weeks rest between treatments. Sounds simple enough! My problem was that my body didn't seem to be able to recuperate enough in those two weeks; so I would go home and return the next Friday. Over the course of what should have taken a couple or three months, wound up taking me all the way to Thanksgiving and then only receiving 4 treatments of Infusion, anymore and the chemo itself would kill me. I was informed that my body was not able to handle the chemo and anymore treatments would probably kill me.So needless to say, we stopped chemotherapy and scheduled a CT Scan to see if anything had been ssuccessful.

I am diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Cancer, Dermatological Lupus, and now being treated for Psoriasis. The medication for Psoriasis helps some, but not enough! I take medication currently to try and bring my system and bloodwork within a range to run a CT Scan that my doctor fells he can trust. :shocked: I had CT Scans in September 2008 and it came back loaded with tumors that had never existed before, they did another scan March 2009; It was amazing as it read pretty close to the original, until my oncologist found out that the dermatologist placed me on high dosages of Prednisone. For those of you that have been fortunate enough to never have to use it or reason to learn about it.Predisone gives your body false readings , raises certain blood levele to normal or above.:) The CT Scan showed that I no longer had any tumors. Praise the Lord! October 2009 would have been my 5 year celebration of cancer free. Unfortuntately the CT Scan showed that my cancer had come back with a vengeance. It had spread to stomach, lungs, and intestines. I hope whoever reads this will do as I did and get a CT Scans every 6 months at least.Watch what other doctors are doing to you and keep your current doctor aware of what is happening in your life. Comments are welcome as I have researched every aspect of my disease and also Psoriasis, which mimics tumors in your body. If the tumors don't show a change request a biopsy of the tumor to see if it is cancerous or a cyst as a result of something else. I pray that you will succeed and live a long life. As for me, I am waiting to have a biopsy conducted and another CT Scan to see if anything has changed.If it hasn't changed, the odds are in my favor that it is cysts caused by Psoriasis and I am still in remission. If you would like to be added to my prayer list, drop me your name and city; I will add you to my prayer list and hope that God is listening. Thank you for reading my BLOG and I hope to see feedback on this from anyone who will be willling to share with me.Thank you!