Thursday, August 25, 2016

Cancer

I am a ten year stage four cancer survivor, apparently.  

As per usual, I'm not very typical: including my story of cancer.  It is this story, that came to light as we pieced things together, that has given the doctor's great hope that we can beat this.  Because the cancer incubated for so long it has spread wide and looks scary.  From the doctors' perspective it looked like it had spread from my right kidney starting in about April and was sweeping through my body rather quickly.  The doctors looked at my charts and expected me to be sick and on the way out, but they found me sitting on my bed, wide eyed and bushy tailed and not at all sickly.  They were so confused. After chatting with me they went back to reassess and rethink me.  We started to piece things together and realised what the history actually was and the extent to which this has gone on.   

It started 10 years ago.  I found a lump on the front of my torso, just under my rib cage.  Now we all know that lumps are not good, so I made an appointment to go check it.  They did an ultrasound and couldn't see anything and decided that it was just fatty tissue. (The doctors here said wait, they found a lump and didn't biopsy it? She seriously went slack jawed for a moment taking that bit of information in.....) So I went about life as normal.  probably about three years later one showed up down on my waist, but I had been told not to worry, so I didn't. They biopsied that second lump while I was in the hospital and, sure enough, it was the the same kidney cancer that is currently raging through me.   That's a long time to incubate. Not long after that point I went it for kidney pain and my right kidney (the one with the primary mass on it) was a solid kidney stone.  They broke it up with ultrasound, put a tube from my kidney to the bladder, and I spent my summer passing kidney stones; that was my favorite summer. From that time, any kidney pain I felt I assumed was stones and worked hard not to have any more. 

So, this cancer has had time to slowly creep and spread.  I don't know when it worked it's way into my brain.  But if I look back it's been a while.  I'm a clutz. But I became more so, tripping over the floor, tripping up stairs, and tripping on anything that might get in my way, backpacks,  random whatever - or whomever - was on the floor.  Until I fell hard I hadn't noticed how bad I had become, which is scary to me.  Another issue was trying to find words to complete thoughts.  I think people thought I was a bit daft, but it was just part of a quirky nature and people just let it pass.  When I finally  fell, I couldn't write and I had a hard time working a fork and knife to eat. The swelling had now become so severe that I was loopy, not focusing, and out of it.  In fact, my family thought the hospital had given me good drugs, but it was just me. My saving grace is the steroids they have me on for the inflammation and they have made all the difference in the world.  I'm not at 100% mental capacity, but I'm working my way back. However, I will toot my own horn - just a bit.  Despite four large tumors affecting my brain, I am top in my classwork and have gotten a distinction in my course modules.  Just goes to show what a person can do when they really put their mind to it.  .... stepping off my my brag-box and coming back to humility..... ;) 

The next section that the cancer has spread through is the bones in my spinal column. In fact, the lumps on my head - that I was complaining about earlier - are similar bony lesions.  I now know what a bony lesion feels like.  The good news is that even though these lesions reside in the spinal column, they haunt the back wall of the bone - away from the spinal cord and associated nerve roots - where they aren't causing any neurological problems.

The rest of the tumors are in interesting places.  All of them are glandular and reside on the lymphatic system and are on my liver and lungs.  The most entertaining place is a large one at the back of my throat on my tonsil and the huge bad boy that is on my neck. This is good because when we start the medication most of the time we can't tell for about 5 weeks or so if it is shrinking things the way we want.  But with the tonsil and throat, we can actually get a visual, so that will be handy. 

They say I have cancer raging through my body. But for a few aches and pains, and feeling a little tired, I really wouldn't have guessed. I feel confident that the treatment is stronger than the cancer because well, it's a slow creepy crawly thing.  This cancer doesn't know who it is messing with, and I am going to do all in my power to eradicate it.  It will be a hard row to hoe, but hey, I like a good challenge. The past year that I worked on being healthy (losing 30 lbs) eating right and exercising as well as studying and working on languages are also to my advantage. The healthy  outweighs the sick, and I feel confident that it will all work in my favor. Time will tell, but I'm far from my deathbed.  I have too much to do to kick off now. I plan on being a 30+ year cancer survivor. Never give up.  There is a bright side to all things and nothing that a positive attitude can't fix.  Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you have been up to. 


4 comments:

  1. Vicki, you are amazing. Absolutely. Cancer is evil. Beat the hell out of it.

    *Sorry. "Heck" wasn't strong enough.

    Shannon Callister

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