Entry- 11:14 pm 1/15/14
First Day in the hospital today. I’ll be here until Monday.
Ready, set, here’s the story…
So three months ago,
beginning of October, I noticed a lump on my upper left chest. It was painless,
something no one would notice if you saw me, but since I'm so obsessed with
body, I'm constantly checking it out so I noticed. Lol. Thinking it was maybe a
dislocated rib or calcium deposit, I let it go. On October 28. 2013 my mother
insisted I go to Sansum Urgent Care to get it scoped out. They told me it may
be swelling from cartilage in my rib and to just take Advil. I went home. 2
weeks later and I noticed another lump, this more on my right side, lateral to
my sternum. Here I go self-diagnosing myself, thinking it’s another dislocated
rib or something. This one was different; it was more round and firmer. Of course,
it not being painful or affecting me in any way. I got away with the presence of
the lump for a month before the discomfort began. I wasn’t able to lie on my
chest. By mid-December, I had developed
an extreme cough. My disorientation and fatigue returned (from another
self-diagnosed event of what I thought was just Heat Exhaustion)
The only thing that
brought me back to urgent care on DEC 28 was the fact that my primary physician
would not be able to see me until February! I'm sorry, not having that. I went
for the terrible hacking dry cough that was around for 1.5 weeks and interfering
with my workouts. I wasn’t having that either. I waited the dreadful two hours
and got a script for cough medicine. Codeine, albuterol, and Allegra. Then he
also set an appt for Chest CT scan on the 2nd of Jan. best thing
ever! I wouldn’t be able to get my results until when? Hell. Mother bear n I was
on my primary physician’s office, like any cancellation, its mine. Saw her next
AM J
persistence pays off!
Friday 1/3/14 Happy New Year to me, so at this time I
have “inflamed lymph nodes”
Monday 1/6/14 2nd CT Scan with Barium an iodine
CT Chest, Abdomen, Pelvis with contrast to see if I had inflamed lymph nodes
anywhere else. Nugatory. Phew.
Wednesday 1/8/14 Chest Biopsy at Cottage Hospital “what
the hell is this shit”
Friday 1/10/14 gets a call from primary physician
11:15. I get diagnosed with cancer. Lymphoma.
Monday 1/13/14 See oncologist Dr. Daniel Greenwald. Informs
me of the type of lymphoma I have (there 70 different types) He says it’s
PRIMARY MEDIASTINAL B CELL LYMPHOMA (PMBCL) Stage 2 A
The next step it to just nip it in the butt, it’s an
aggressive cancer, growing quickly, but also means it can be taken away
quickly. The approach he is going with is already tried and worked in the past.
(See link below)
Wednesday 1/15/14 PET scan at 730am. Admitted to Hospital by 11am. Bone Marrow Biopsy. Picc Line set up, so muchhhh happened today, it’s insane. Tomorrow (or today) I Start Chemo.
Highlights of Today
Bone Marrow Biopsy, this is very uncomfortable if you’ve ever had it done. So Dr. Greenwald had a tough time doing this procedure because #1- I'm young and #2- I weightlift. I got me some THICK BONE. He said he’s done a BM bx a thousand times and I was in the Top 3 of Thick bone. This obviously, makes me a winner and super beast! He was forcefully trying to get into my hip, but it was not having it. He had to re-numb it, twice! Luckily the bumps on my chest were painfully distracting enough for me to tolerate this insane discomfort. Anyways, moral of this story is LIFT HEAVY SH**
Picc Line, what I thought was cool about this was the fact that it was a Residents first time doing it. I totally called him out it and asked the Lead Doctor if he felt comfortable letting the Resident do the special procedure. And put the Resident on the spot, I thought this would be a great opportunity to practice and let him learn. He didn’t end up completing the procedure but he got to try, that’s success all on its own. The Picc Line, is more of a permanent IV in which they can draw blood, give me medicine, fluids, whatever they need, instead of constantly poking my little baby veins. Oh and there’s a wire through that vein towards my heart!
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If you’re a nerd like me and the science of this whole cancer thing appeals to you, You can read the article Posted in the New England Journal of Medicine titled “Dose-Adjusted EPOCH-Rituximab Therapy in Primary Mediastinal B-Cell Lymphoma” If you’re not so nerdy but are still interested in the article, I suggest only reading the Discussion part, it’s a summary of the results.
Link: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1214561#t=article
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In my own words, here’s the game plan:
>>>6 rounds of Chemo, every 3 weeks. I’ll be in the
hospital 4-5 days at a time. The other 2+ weeks I’ll be home, getting my tai
chi on and promoting apoptosis. Get cured by my 23rd birthday on
April 25th, Boom!
I'm limited visitors
because my immune system is gunna be Shot. Doesn’t mean you can’t contact me!
If you do not have my cell number you can reach me through my email elisamunoz04@gmail.com
I’ll try to
keep everyone posted as often as possible! Email me questions, send me love,
funny pictures, or just tell me about your day! I got nothing but TIME! Kayyy
hugs everyone!
