Cancer sucks... No matter what it's called.
Time to fight back again!
Within the next week, Cindy will undergo surgery to install a port in her body before having two days of chemotherapy treatment for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. No matter what you call it, it's still cancer - and cancer still sucks! Even the name of this cancer is deceiving. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) is one of the only medical conditioins that adds the prefix "non" to the disease name as an indication that it is "worse" than regular lymphoma! Go figure. Cancer really sucks!
Slightly more than a year ago Cindy was battling breast cancer. She chose to have the radical double mastectomy to better insure that the cancer would be fully removed and wouldn't return. Durning the procedure, the surgeon chose to biopsy a few of Cindy's enlarged lymph nodes. That's when the NHL was first discovered. The presence was small and it was detected early. The doctors said that to "wait and watch" was the appropriate response. To treat it would be worse than the symptom's. Cindy hadn't experienced any apparent symptoms at the time.
Part of the "watching" process would be to have another full PET Scan near the end of the first year. It would tell us how much, if at all, the NHL tumors were growing and whether or not they had spread. Cindy took that test in May and the results, along with uncomfortable symptoms that she had started to experience, changed the situation. Two tumors have grown substantially and now is the time to begin the process of beating them back into submission. Up to four cycles of two-day chemo treatments will be spread out over about ten weeks. They tell us the impact on Cindy will be tolerable and limited to fatigue for a few days. I pray that is the case. My plan is to be right there beside her each step of the way.
So here we are at the lake. It's a beautiful day that is full of sunshine and warmth and we're in the place that we both consider to be one of the most peaceful, beautiful, joyful and relaxing around. It's our "little piece of Heaven." Yet while we are enjoying our weekend of "us time," we both have the dreaded cancer mixing into our thoughts. Cindy's doctor has done nothing to raise concerns over the treatment that is coming up, and still it weighs on our minds. Cindy has been reading from medical books and websites, while I spend my time considering how I might make her feel most comfortable and loved.
This is a journey that I wish we weren't going on. There's nothing about it that I would wish on anyone else. And still, there's a small silver lining that comes with the process we've gone through. We are closer to each other than ever before, and we have reset our priorities for what is important in our lives.
Slightly more than a year ago Cindy was battling breast cancer. She chose to have the radical double mastectomy to better insure that the cancer would be fully removed and wouldn't return. Durning the procedure, the surgeon chose to biopsy a few of Cindy's enlarged lymph nodes. That's when the NHL was first discovered. The presence was small and it was detected early. The doctors said that to "wait and watch" was the appropriate response. To treat it would be worse than the symptom's. Cindy hadn't experienced any apparent symptoms at the time.
Part of the "watching" process would be to have another full PET Scan near the end of the first year. It would tell us how much, if at all, the NHL tumors were growing and whether or not they had spread. Cindy took that test in May and the results, along with uncomfortable symptoms that she had started to experience, changed the situation. Two tumors have grown substantially and now is the time to begin the process of beating them back into submission. Up to four cycles of two-day chemo treatments will be spread out over about ten weeks. They tell us the impact on Cindy will be tolerable and limited to fatigue for a few days. I pray that is the case. My plan is to be right there beside her each step of the way.
So here we are at the lake. It's a beautiful day that is full of sunshine and warmth and we're in the place that we both consider to be one of the most peaceful, beautiful, joyful and relaxing around. It's our "little piece of Heaven." Yet while we are enjoying our weekend of "us time," we both have the dreaded cancer mixing into our thoughts. Cindy's doctor has done nothing to raise concerns over the treatment that is coming up, and still it weighs on our minds. Cindy has been reading from medical books and websites, while I spend my time considering how I might make her feel most comfortable and loved.
This is a journey that I wish we weren't going on. There's nothing about it that I would wish on anyone else. And still, there's a small silver lining that comes with the process we've gone through. We are closer to each other than ever before, and we have reset our priorities for what is important in our lives.
Cindy is a fighter. We're going to beat this! Cancer sucks!
Your comments, suggestions, and stories of your personal edge are always welcome in my guest book.
Cancer sucks!
