Picture of my Brain Scan

This is just a picture of the tumor. Just to give you an idea of the size. This tumor was just as big on the outside of my skull as it was inside. Thankfully, I went to the doctor to get it checked out and even though it wasn't a small tumor, they could still help me and treat me. I'm good now!

Where did that knot come from?

While taking the blood thinners, we had to adjust the dosage time and time again. During this time, while washing my hair in the shower I felt a bump on the front left part of my head, just inside my hairline. It was probably just a little smaller than a marble. I remember thinking, how strange, it didn’t hurt. Just figured I had hit my head on a cabinet or something else and had forgotten about it. A couple of weeks later, I could just about swear that the bump on my head was larger. The next appointment for my blood tests was to see if it was too thin or not. I mentioned the knot on my head to my family doctor. He took the time to feel it and said it didn’t feel like anything bad and I should just keep an eye on it to make sure I didn’t have any other symptoms, which at the time I had no symptoms at all, just a knot head. My husband had a knot on his head several years earlier and it turned out to be fatty tissue. I just figured it was probably the same type thing.

I go back and forth to the doctor for the blood tests. Blood clots don’t go away very quickly. It’s a good lesson in patience even though I didn’t really want the lesson. Before I knew it, it was time to go back to UVA for my 12 month check up. About two weeks before the appointment, I notice that the knot on my head was getting even larger. At this point I am beginning to get pretty concerned about it because I noticed one night my vision seemed a little off. Things I could see a few weeks before were blurry, not real blurry but enough to notice the difference. I had begun to have slight headaches. It was spring time and for me when everything is in bloom I experience allergy problems and headaches. The headaches didn’t alarm me as much as realizing that the bump was even bigger and my vision seemed to be getting worse in my left eye. I do wear glasses but both eyes have always been the same and now they weren’t. I called my Oncologists Assistant at UVA and asked for her to call me back because I had some questions for her. She called me back pretty quickly and I began to tell her what had been going on with my health and the knot on my head and the vision impairment. I could tell by the tone of her voice and the questions she was asking me that she already had a pretty good idea of what was going on. I just had a feeling. First thought is, No, not again, I just did this last year. We made an appointment for a PET scan the day before I was to see the Doctors in Charlottesville.

Once again, I went to the internet. Now when I tell you that I went to the internet, I am very careful about what websites I get information from. I do some with WEB MD and most of my information comes from the American Cancer Society and other organizations that are reputable and have valid information. Keep in mind though the Big C (Cancer) is never exactly the same in anyone. There can be and are similarities etc. but what treatments work for one person doesn’t always work exactly the same on others. Some will get sick, some will not. Best thing to do is to ask questions and then once you get the answers, ask some more questions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your doctor will most likely be your best place to get information. One of the things that I like about UVA is that they have what they call “Tumor Board”. It is a group of Oncologists from several areas of specialty and resident doctors that have a meeting once a week and they discuss their patients and treatment plans and how all of the above are progressing. The way I look at it, I am getting expertise from each and everyone in that room during that meeting. Keep that in mind.

Went for my PET scan and received the results the next day. My Mom was with me, she has been such a blessing through all of this, and it’s been nice to have her with me through all this. My oncologist came into the room, said, I’m not going to beat around the bush, I am just going to spell it out clearly and then we will talk. He sat down, looked at my Mom then looked me in the eye and said, “your PET scan reports came back positive.” Well, no surprise there for me but my sweet Mom was rejoicing and saying how thankful she was. I knew at that point, Mom thought positive was good. So, I looked at her, she looked confused by the look on my face. I said, no Mom, we wanted the tests to be negative. I still remember the look of disappointment on her face. I felt as though I had let her down, I know I have no control over whether I get cancer or not, just don’t like breaking that kind of news over and over again, even if it is over several years time.

Now for a little bit of good news. Turns out the tumor was in an area of the brain that’s fairly easy to treat. I had taken extra clothes just in case I needed to stay longer, turns out that was a good thing too. My oncologist sent me down to my radiation doctor so they could do a work up and get me set up for treatments. Because it was dealing with the brain, they wanted me to have the treatments at UVA rather than at home. Even better news . . . I received my first treatment that very day. I am all for let’s (as Larry the Cable Guy would say) git er done!

After the Second Set of Treatments . . .

While receiving the radiation for the bone cancer in my sternum area, I was pleasantly surprised as to how quickly the pain began to subside. What once was a horribly sharp and constant pain quickly began to become less painful within about a week and a half. What a wonderful blessing when the treatments began to work so quickly. Bone cancer is extremely painful. It is something that hurts all the time and then when you move it hurts even more.  If you try applying any pressure or weight to the area that is affected, then the pain becomes terribly intense. Even some of the strongest pain medications don’t help all that much. They do make it a little more tolerable. There were times before treatments the pain had gotten so strong I thought I might pass out. This is why I was so surprised and pleased when the pain began to leave so quickly.  I would like to add, these cancer spots on my sternum were found pretty quickly. My doctor even made the statement that I had pretty much diagnosed myself. I didn’t care how it was found, just so thankful that it was and again it was something the doctors and technicians could help with.

Once the all clear was given by my doctors, I began to resume the ole familiar appointments every three months. This is just a standard procedure for cancer patients. It’s one of those precautions that the doctors take to make sure that you are well and that they got everything. There are a lot of people that don’t go to these appointments and that is a very dangerous thing for them to do. It’s just so much better if you go to all the appointments so that if there is anything to pop up they can catch it early and take care of it more quickly. The treatments for cancers that are found early are less severe and also last less time as well. I have found it is so much easier to follow the doctor’s instructions. Think about it, chances are they have been dealing with this dreaded disease for years; they have so many studies at their finger tips with the internet. They even have associates that they can confer with. Who am I to question their wisdom, especially when it makes so much sense to me? I have not attended medical school but usually went to the internet to see some of the other doctor’s opinions and treatments for the same types of cancers that I have had.  So, I went to these appointments for 9 months.

During the following 9 months, I developed a blood clot in one of my arms. It was in the left arm and being left handed made me act on it pretty quickly. I went to my family doctor immediately. I called the nurse and told her what I was experiencing so they let me just stop by really quickly so they could take just a quick peek at the arm. Sure enough, they were pretty sure that it was a blood clot so they sent me on to the hospital emergency room. Now, you ask, why would they send you to the emergency room and it’s pretty simple, I needed an ultrasound on the arm to see how big, bad and deep the clot was in the arm. When you have seen as many doctors and nurses and technicians as I have, you learn pretty quickly how to read peoples expressions and you can tell pretty fast if they find something. I knew after the ultra sound that it wasn’t good news. Did I mention that I am always the one that has really weird stuff? Well, I do, seems almost every stage of this process what I experience is in the 5% range. Turns out I had deep thrombosis of the arm. It’s supposed to be pretty rare. It’s usually something that happens in people’s legs and it can be very dangerous if the blood clot breaks free and travels to your heart, lungs or brain. There are those that would tell you that if mine had gone to my brain, it probably wouldn’t have caused any problems cause I am a little off in the head anyway. I was put on a regimen of blood thinners and put back on weekly visits to the doctor to make sure my blood didn’t get too thin.