Mukilteo Musings

Some of the Positives

I will say this quickly and then move on. My diagnosis and prognosis are not good. But there are some parts of this that may pull me out of the statistics. I am young and healthy. Or at least I used to be. Seriously, with all of the doctor visits they give me sheets and sheets of papers to fill out about my medical history and all of the medicines I am taking. The only thing that has been wrong with me is that I get asthma sometimes and I have an inhaler to be used as needed. I check no on everything on the long lists of things that can be wrong with people. I take no other prescription medications. My blood pressure is perfect. My cholesterol and all of that is terrific. My weight is perfect. My EKG is perfect.

The scans they did show that "Tum, the tumor with tenticles" (this is the name I have given what is in my abdomen) has not spread to my lungs or my bones. The chemo I will be given contains two new drugs that have only been in use for a little over a year and have proven quite effective against this. Therefore, all of the grim statistics do not include people who have had the new treatments. My treatment will be cutting edge in every sense and this should give all of us tremendous hope.

Obviously, I have been feeling terrified to say the least because I have not felt very good and I feel weaker than I should. It turns out I am anemic from all of this. This causes my heart to beat faster than normal, causes me to feel tired, and makes me a little short of breath. As a result, I was concerned about spread to my lungs which we now know is not the case. They will take care of this by giving me iron and I should begin to feel stronger before my first chemo.

My children are wonderful. Kaley is pushing pomegranate juice in me and Lucas will be home on Tuesday from Chile. One of the concerns I have for my children is that I may have a colon cancer gene because of the fact I am too young and an unlikely candidate for this disease. There is a specific gene and my husband knows all about it. All of the doctors keep asking me if I have any family history of this. My answer is no but I explain that my family is small. My Dad died young of a heart attack. My Mom and Grandma were only children and I have only one brother. So, Dave will take a swab from my cheek and find out. It doesn't do anything for me but it will help my brother, my brother's children, and my own children to know.