Friday, April 16, 2010

The Discovery

I have a mission; at least for the next 6 months. My mission is to recover from Hodgkin's Lymphoma with the grace and dignity of those who have gone before me.

March 25th, 3 days after my 42nd birthday, I checked myself into Kaiser Woodland Hill's ER at 8:00 a.m. complaining of excruciating flank pain. It all started around 5:30 a.m. as my husband left for work. I thought the pain would go away but it got increasingly worse, so I decided to get some medical intervention. I'm not one to plug up a hospital's busy ER with minor complaints, so I made sure to wait for the pain to be unbearable. Smart. Fortunately for me, Kaiser's ER wasn't busy so I was admitted within 15 minutes of arrival.

A very kind RN, Mary McDonald, took my vitals, drew blood and requested a urine sample. It was noted my blood pressure was 130/90 which is very high for me. This was a sign that I was in legitimate pain so she gave me an IV injection of morphine. That didn't stop me from rocking back and forth in the hospital bed so she gave me demerol. It was suspected I may have a kidney stone or something wrong with my gall bladder, but when tests came back normal, the ER doctor now got involved and decided he wanted to do a CT scan.
Mary gave me more demerol and oxycontin so that I would lay still enough for the scan. After that cocktail I was as ready as I'd ever be. I was comatose. About 20 minutes after the CT scan, I was back in the ER room and doubled over again in pain. I got more meds. The CT came back normal and the ER doctor was now scratching his head. He decided to order a chest x-ray. Then he decided to order another CT scan, this time with contrast. That's when they found it.

Dr. Yu came back to my room, Mary the RN came to my side, held my hand, and started tearing (by now she was getting quite fond of me and I of her because she was the keeper of the meds). Dr. Yu said, "well, everything checks out normal for your kidney and gall bladder, HOWEVER, the radiologist did find a mass in your chest. It's called a Mediastinal Tumor and it's between the lungs, behind the breast plate and just in front of your heart. I am ordering a surgical biopsy with Thoracic Surgery at Kaiser in L.A. as our surgeon just recently retired."

My first response was, "Oh, that's great because my brother is a surgeon at the L.A. Kaiser! Maybe he can get me in fast. So, when you say surgical, does that mean they will euthanize me?" Ooops, I meant anesthetize me. I laughed, he didn't. Gulp. Why is Mary crying now? Aw geez, that just can't be good.

But it still hadn't registered. Mary asked me who could pick me up because I had about 6 injections of assorted pain killers in me. I said I could call a friend. She saw my wedding ring and asked, "don't you want to call your husband?" I told her no, he's busy at work, I didn't want to disrupt his day. Thank goodness Mary was insistent I call him and offered to call him herself so I handed her my phone. She told me if I didn't let her call him, I'd never forgive myself. Don picked me up and hour later. I was so relieved to see him. Everything suddenly felt better. We went home, I called my brother Alex, and then the craziness began.

The next morning Alex's P.A. (who has the connections) had gotten me a 9:30 a.m. appointment with Dr. Chang, Thoracic Surgeon, and I was off and running. During my appointment I got to see the CT images and there was this big grey thing in the image that wasn't supposed to be there. About 2.5" in diameter, he said. Either Lymphoma or Thymoma. Let's hope for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, his resident doctor said. What? It's the most receptive to treatment, she said. I still wasn't sure what anyone was talking about.

The next step, schedule a biopsy. Luckily, Dr. Chang had a cancellation for March 31 so I grabbed the spot. I was sent off to meet Anesthesia, sign off paperwork and pay my $100.00 deductible. Now I only had to wait 5 days before they would extract a piece of tissue in my chest to hand to Pathology for a final diagnosis of what kind of cancer I may have. FIVE DAYS!

March 31st and it's the day of my scheduled surgical biopsy. Don took me in the early hours to sign in, get prepped and go under the knife. My parents were there when I woke up. My brother was there. The Pathologist spoke to them in another room and told them it looked like Lymphoma. Nobody told me anything, just that the biopsy went well. Of course.

We went home and now I would be waiting until April 6 to meet with the Oncologist who specializes in these types of tumors to give me the final results. Again, Alex's P.A. had come to the rescue and got me the earliest possible appointment. However, those were the slowest 6 days of my life, so far.

It's April 6th and now we were sitting in a tiny exam room, Don, Alex and I. The doctor came in, asked me if I knew what was going on (I said I did) and then told me I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Don and I looked at eachother and cheered! I gave two thumbs up! The doctor looked either appalled or stunned. I guess he hadn't expected such an enthusiastic response. I'm not really afraid to have cancer, but I am afraid to have a cancer that would take my life. Hodgkin's is the most curable type of cancer and one of the first cancers for which doctors had found a cure! My chances are great!

Now the craziness was REALLY about to start....

(to be continued tomorrow because I'm actually tired)

6 comments:

  1. Sister im here for you all the way. And i know that thing's will be great. I have been doing a special native american prayer for you and Don. I love the both of you very much. God bless you sister.

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  2. Vesna, I think it's wonderful that you are blogging your experience--so healing and someday maybe helpful for other people who walk through this. It's ironic to feel fortunate to have a treatable cancer, but your attitude is inspirational. My best friend's husband was just diagnosed with terminal, inoperable cancer, so I am thrilled to hear that you have a treatable variety. Sending prayers and love and light for a painless process and a quick recovery. I think you should publish your blog when you are on the other side of this. Blessings...

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  3. above comment is actually from Trisha using Jerry's computer :) Enjoy your Sunday!

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  4. Vesna...
    I am blown away by the details of the day! You didn't miss a thing! :) Except the yummy sour skittles that made Don make a fish face! :) That truly was about it! Thank you again for allowing me to share in this intimate setting and being apart of your lives. I love you dearly! xoxo

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  5. Hi Vesna! I think of you often throughout the years, and I'M so happy that you found a man that actually deserves you! You have always been so beautiful---inside and out! Thinking of you as you recover! Gina

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