Monday, June 16, 2014

Hurry up . . . and wait

Went to the oncologist today hoping to get my cancer staging diagnosis and the "plan". Well, that happened, sort of.

The PETscan showed the cancer was localized but wasn't conclusive to show if the lymph node was involved as well. The MRI of the neck done on Saturday was to provide that clue. Unfortunately, the oncologist hadn't received that report yet. Now mind you, I had a brain MRI done at the same time and she received the brain MRI report, just not the all important one for the neck. --Oh, in case you are wondering, the brain MRI was normal, or as normal as I'll ever be!

Bottom line is, we caught the cancer early. Because it is an aggressive form of cancer, the treatment will be aggressive. Three doses of chemotherapy spaced three weeks apart, radiation five days a week for seven to eight weeks. And they have changed the prognosis of no hair loss to possible hair loss. Sigh.

If my health insurance carrier gets their act together with all the approvals, we should start the chemo and radiation on Thursday. I hope the approvals come through. While I am dreading the pain they tell me I will be in, I do want to get going with the treatment. If I could have started treatment the day I was told I had cancer, I would have done so. Waiting adds to the stress.

Speaking of stress, I have a few theories on ways to reduce stress using creativity. I will be blogging about my theories and personal experiences in putting my theories into action as I go through this Cancer whirlwind. If you are interested in stress reduction through creativity, visit: WWW.unleashbliss.com.

2 comments:

  1. Good that it was caught early - bad that you have to go through it at all. Thinking of you!!!

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  2. Holly, hope Thursday went well. You are in my prayers, my friend!

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