.bmp)
FYI, I work with cancer patients every day. I am a Breast Cancer Navigator/case manger. I am a central person that helps them with appts, teaching, education, getting answer's when they are frustrated, giving them surgery post-op instructions, basically anything they need I try and help them with. So I know a few things about cancer, I knew nothing about this and there is no Navigator for me!!!!
A quick over view of the beginning, mostly for me, because I can't remember this morning let alone back in Dec. so I going to try and give myself the highlights.
In the summer of 2015 I had started having weird Left leg pains, arm pains and low back pain, supper dry mouth and fatigue or plain tiredness that I couldn't explain, oh and constipation that only an occasional dynamite pill would help,. I started having MRI's of everything in hopes that is wasn't MS. Head, neck and spine. they found a ruptured low back disc that was probably causing at least the leg & back pain, so we went with that and they also found a cyst on my thyroid that no one was too concerned with, because the back was the priority. I was unable to get into the Dr. I wanted at McKay until late Dec. and my leg was getting worse. So Melainie, who has a slight pull with a neuro surgeon in Bountiful, helped me get into him, Dr. Brent Clyde. Kim hand delivered my MRI to their office, I was in within the week and told the MRI didn't look good and that I needed surgery soon and it was scheduled for Dec. 2nd.
After the surgery Dr. Clyde came and said everything went well, But....(that BUT started a chain reaction that has literary changed my life and the life of my family) the anesthesiologist drew some blood during surgery and my Calcium level was 15, high normal is 10, so I needed to get into either my primary care Dr. or and ENT right away, maybe it was my thyroid. It was early in the day so I called my Dr. and they got me an appointment for the next day with an ENT. No explanation was given as to why he drew the blood, and when I asked a few weeks later Dr. Clyde said he didn't know why Dr. Rust drew it. I later knew it was a blessing that the level was drawn, but he either saw something he questioned or was in tuned! (side note for me I was having terrible stomach pain, I assumed I had an ulcer from all the Ibuprofen I was taking for the leg and back pain).
The ENT wasn't too impressed with the calcium level and said this can't be right, we have people come to the ER with a level of 11 and they are unresponsive or incoherent so lets draw it again and see where it is. The next day I got a phone call telling me my level was 16 and I needed to be admitted to the hospital, there was something wrong!!!!
In my mind I was thinking thyroid, I hadn't looked anything up, I had just had surgery, I was feeling like Hell and my stomach was becoming worse than my back surgery, my left leg seemed a little better but still hurt to walk on it. The hospital experience is a bit of a bluer. I know I received shots everyday to bring the Calcium down, and they were so very painful that I would just cry a little each time. I had lots of test and xrays and blood work. I was fortunate that when the bone marrow procedure was to be done they gave me a little Versed (the quick to sleep an wake up and never remember a thing medicine), because I already had an IV and they knew me. They biopsied my thyroid, checked my kidneys, lungs, and I'm sure other organs.
I actually don't remember this, but at some point they told Kim that I probably had Bone Cancer, I really don't remember hearing that, but I remember being told if it was coming from one spot or organ then we would have had to talk "Hospice" not treatment. also I was having all the stomach pain, so I needed and EDG to make sure there was no cancer there. But after 3 days I was told by a very nice and compassionate Hospitalist, Dr. Cory Anderson that I did have Cancer and it was called MM. That changed everything. Still not know anything much about MM, he did tell me it was treatable but not curable! It didn't have a long life expectancy but I would need to start chemo. That takes some time again to wrap your head around.
I was still getting Calcium treatments and IV fluid and having blood drawn and new information everyday and talking to family everyday over and over with the same story. I was becoming so exhausted trying to understand this new medical problem and figure out what was going to happen to me. My kids and Kim were frantically looking everything up they could and I think talking with each other. I was just crying (which I still am), and letting them tell me what they were learning about it, my thoughts went to hair loss, "moon face" (from high doses of steroids), my job, my strength, I was still so very very tired all the time, seeing my grand kids grow up, I still have some yet to be born. Just the normal ping-pong-ball brain activity that comes with something new.
This has gotten too long, so I'll stop here for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment