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I was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin's Lymphoma in early February of this year - a month after my 23rd birthday and 4 months after moving 1000 miles from my family and starting my first job. I still didn't know many people, had not built a support network, did not have a car, had JUST moved a week before to a walkable neighborhood, and was practically broke from moving cross country and then again to a better location. Even though I had cancer in almost every lymph node from my neck down on the left side of my body and in my bones, I felt completely fine when I was diagnosed (with the exception of fatigue that I chalked up by stretching myself too thin). I walked 4 miles a day round trip to work in all kinds of weather, had an active dating life, and was about to start grad school. I went from that to being too weak to lift anything above 10 pounds, serious lung damage, and getting dumped 3 months into chemo by my boyfriend.
I had 6 months of chemo, during which I worked full time. Most post-chemo PET scan was a few weeks ago, and one of my lymph nodes was still showing up a little (an SUV of 2 - most oncs are not concerned about anything below a 2.5). Now I am seeking a second opinion to see whether I should jump straight to a biopsy (what my current oncologist suggests) or wait the 3 months until my next PET scan to see if there are any changes.
Even in the uncertainty, I am entering what I believe will be a new relationship and started an MBA 2 weeks after my last treatment.
My mom is coming up next week for the LLS's Light the Night Walk and is seeing me for the first time since I've been diagnosed. I really want to not see her at all.
I won't presume to tell you what to do about your Mom. I will encourage you to stay strong and hold a good thought. You seem to be doing well thus far. As for the one who dumped you in your distress, I'm sure that's not the person you would want to spend your life with.
Life is not always what we planned, but it's what we have to live with. You sound like you're doing it just right. Bless you.
Glad you were able to make it through! See your mom, she doesn't care what you look like, she just wants to hold her child (I'm a mom, I know)!
If she wanted to hold her child, she would have come up in January when I discovered a lump. Or in February when I had to have my first surgery to remove a lymph node for biopsy. She wouldn't have let me be all alone in a room when I was told I had cancer. She would have come up when my port was installed. Or maybe she would have come up in March when I started chemo. Or in April when my friends shaved my hair because it was too upsetting to watch it fall out bit by bit.
Instead, she and my father went to Scotland (one of my favorite places) for 2 weeks in June. She's only coming now so she can seem like the silently suffering mother in public, now that the hard part is over and my hair has started to grow back in.
If she wanted to hold her child, she would have come up in January when I discovered a lump. Or in February when I had to have my first surgery to remove a lymph node for biopsy. She wouldn't have let me be all alone in a room when I was told I had cancer. She would have come up when my port was installed. Or maybe she would have come up in March when I started chemo. Or in April when my friends shaved my hair because it was too upsetting to watch it fall out bit by bit.
Instead, she and my father went to Scotland (one of my favorite places) for 2 weeks in June. She's only coming now so she can seem like the silently suffering mother in public, now that the hard part is over and my hair has started to grow back in.
Something in my gut told me that was the case after your first post - that you were left alone in your travail without Mom to hold you and just be there. I'm sorry you had to go through that while trying to deal with such devastating circumstances. You have indeed descended to the depths and there is nothing left that life can throw at you that you won't be able to handle.
My Mother has been dead these many years, but had she been alive while I was battling Ca, she would have hidden in a bottle until all was resolved and then would have claimed herself responsible for my recovery!
Bless you.
I forfeit my dad to crab in 2006. He was diagnosed with AML - Pointed myeloid leukemia, a mansion of the myeloid contrast of gore cells. His was due to Chemical danger, there was benzol in the products we victimized at our pedigree owned union position. My dad's essay of aliveness was 14% - not uppercase ratio. We were hot to **** him for a count of 8 months; which IMO were due to the communicating he received at the [mod] consumer complaints not allowed [/mod]
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Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 10-16-2011 at 12:34 AM..
There's definitely too much cancer around. It seems like it's everywhere and years ago you didn't hear that much about it. Not like today. I lost both parents to cancer. My only brother has had it and I have also had it. I had a partial nephrectomy last year. That's where they remove part of your kidney. The cancer was growing like a little mushroom on top of the left kidney. I was lucky as it was stage 1 not to say that a molecule has not entered the bloodstream and will show up later. I also have CKD late stage and will need a transplant. Don't know where the kidney cancer came from. With a transplant you have to take meds that reduce your immune system in order to accept the new organ. If I do that and get another form of cancer I cannot have chemo or radiation and it will run rampant. The only was I can look at it is to hope our great doctors and hospitals continue to combat it aggressively and eradicate it soon. As for myself, I continue to think that I have had a great life so far and feel lucky for that. I just want more progress so that my 3 children and grandchildren do not have to face this, or my wife.
I'm a cancer survivor. I kept a somewhat online diary here of what I had to deal with, and at the time I had no idea if I was going to beat it or not. Yesterday my PSA numbers for the Prostate Cancer were at 0 after a long three years.
If your interested you can read the diary here. Hopefully someone that is afflected may find a little hope in it.
Hi! I was just diagnosed with breast cancer: IDC. I'll be starting treatment soon. I have to say it's really caused me to take a look at just what is important in life; don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff. There's a song called "Live like you are dying" and that's just what I'm going to do! The live part. I'm not dying any time soon!
Two years later. March 2011 I was diagnosed with mets to my bones. So far we haven't been able to stop the spread. This summer I started barrel racing because it's something I've always wanted to do. I'm still singing "Live like you are dying." The live part. I'm not dying any time soon!
Two years later. March 2011 I was diagnosed with mets to my bones. So far we haven't been able to stop the spread. This summer I started barrel racing because it's something I've always wanted to do. I'm still singing "Live like you are dying." The live part. I'm not dying any time soon!
Well my heart goes out to you and hope for a positive outlook. Good for you not just sitting around and being gloom and doom!
Can you post a video of your barrel racing? Would be cool to see. I started doing videos and such and posted them on YouTube as a way to vent the frustration of the last few years.
If you get bored you can type in "Fogtender" (CB handle i used from when i worked on light houses in the Coast Guard) on the YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. search engine.
Well my heart goes out to you and hope for a positive outlook. Good for you not just sitting around and being gloom and doom!
Can you post a video of your barrel racing? Would be cool to see. I started doing videos and such and posted them on YouTube as a way to vent the frustration of the last few years.
If you get bored you can type in "Fogtender" (CB handle i used from when i worked on light houses in the Coast Guard) on the YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. search engine.
Look forward to seeing you winning a few ribbons!
That Imp looks like tons of fun! Hubby thinks it would make a great cake (cattle feed) wagon! Here's a video of Blue and I. Blue is my husbands retired ranch horse. We aren't the fastest, but we're doing it anyway.
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