Here I Go Again...

I just would like to reiterate a previous post......CANCER SUCKS!!!

And here's why: I recently had a PET Scan done which showed a lump/lymph nodes in my left lung that was suspicious. So, last Thursday they scheduled me for a lung biopsy. I'm still waiting for the pathology results which I should get on Monday or Tuesday.

I also had my mammogram last Tuesday, which I haven't gotten the results back from because they were waiting to get a copy of my films from last March for comparison. Hopefully that report will come in this week as well.

Now onto the news I did receive this past Friday. But, first a little background. In the last two months or so, I have been suffering from symptoms which I believed were from sleep exhautsion from the insomnia I have. Symptoms such as severe memory loss, headaches, balance and walking issues, having trouble writing and swallowing, and my speach has gotten thick-tongued: having trouble forming and enunciating words correctly.

So, on Friday while I was getting my Herceptin treatment, my doctor came over to see how I was doing from the lung biopsy from the previous day. Well, I told him the boipsy went fine, but I was having these issues with my sleep and told him my symptoms. He immediatly ordered an urgent MRI of the head that day right after my treatment.

I went to get the MRI with contrast done and before I was even out of the building, my doctor's nurse called me and asked me to come back to the doctors office. Not a very good sign if you ask me! Anyway, when I got there he sat me down and told me that there were multiple lesions on my brain and he had called a radiation oncologist who specializes in brain radiation treatments and set up an appt. immediately after my talk with him.

Unfortunately, he and the radiaiton oncologist have not gotten the official report from the radiaologist who did the MRI. The radiologist just called my doctor immediately to inform him to get me into treatment as soon as possible. So, we don't know how many lesions or where they are as of yet. That information should be in Monday or Tuesday of this week.

But, the good news is that because of the quick notification of my situation, I was able to meet with the radiation oncologist on Friday evening to get a CAT Scan and my radiation mask made, along with a mapped out plan to get me started on treatment on Monday. They don't mess around with this stuff, they didn't even wait for the official report which really would have only taken about a week to get, if that.

They've already started me on a steriod regimen to eleviate the swelling in my head which will help with the swelling from my first radiation treatment on Monday. The radiation treatments cause swelling, which may or may not induce seizures. If we get most of the swelling down with the steriods, my risk of seizure may go down as well.

Oh, and get this. On the CAT Scan at the radiation oncologist office, even though it wasn't done with contrast, the doctor was able to see one of the lesions in my cerebellum. I apparently have a golf ball sized tumor in the motor skills part of my brain, hence some of my symptoms. I kept feeling like I was drunk without even touching a drop of alcohol. Wonder why!

My doctors and I are very positive that they will be able to eradicate most if not all of the tumors with radiation. Now I'm just waiting for the lung biopsy and mammogram reports to come in. Hopefully, they are clean, but if not, I will fight those battles as well. Please keep me in your prayers as I go through the next round(s) of battling this evil disease.

God Bless,
Noelle