A little bump in the road

Wow, it seems time slips by so fast. The last time I posted was the day before Thanksgiving. So much has happened since then. I really didn't know if I was going to tell this story here on my blog, but sometimes I think it helps just to get everything out.

In case you don't know it, I have COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and I am on oxygen full time. This is a result of many, many years of smoking. So, if you smoke, quit it!!!

I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, at which time I quit smoking. I have been on oxygen for the last 4 years part time. I only needed it with activity, such as walking. Then in February of 2008 I came down with a nasty case of pneumonia which landed me in the hospital for 5 days and I have been on oxygen full time since.

On Thanksgiving Day, 2008, I started coughing and coughing. Within a couple days, I couldn't breathe and it was off to the emergency room. They did blood work and chest xrays, same routine as in February. I remember my doctor coming in to the exam room in emergency with a concerned look on his face. "Why don't you plan on staying with us a couple days."

"Is it pneumonia again?" I asked.

"Yeah, probably," was his reply.

What he didn't tell me at the time was that he had seen something on my xray that was out of the ordinary. It was a spot on my lung. He wanted to wait until the radiologist had time to review the xray to confirm what he had seen.

Later that same day, I had a ct scan which not only showed the spot my doctor had seen but also another smaller spot in my other lung. Immediately they called in an oncologist who set me up for more tests.

They ordered a ct guided biopsy of my right lung, which is a test where they put you on a ct scanner and take a picture, then decided where they are going to stick a needle in your lung to get a piece of the spot for testing. They give you some drugs, so you don't really care what they are doing. One of the risks, they told me slight risk, of this test is the possibility of a pnoeumothorax, which is a collapsed lung. Of course, this happened to me.

It was so scary. Suddenly, I could not breathe. The poor doctor had to put me back on the scanner and take another picture so he could insert a chest tube to reinflate my lung, all the while I felt like I was suffocating. I remember him telling me step by step what he was doing and all I could think of was "Just do it!!!" I couldn't really speak because I was concentrating on trying to breathe. I knew right away when he inserted the chest tube because it was like a relief and I could take a breath again. Although, he still spent some time with this big syringe looking thing sucking air out of my chest. Like I said, very scary. I was admitted into the hospital until they could safely remove the chest tube, which was about 3 days. Needless to say, they did not biopsy the spot in the left lung due to the risk of another collapsed lung.

On Tuesday, December 23rd, I had an appointment with the oncologist to discuss the results of all my tests. Sadly, my results were not good news. I have small cell lung cancer. It is fast growing and the most aggressive kind. To my advantage, it seems to be contained for the moment in my lungs, although they can't confirm the spot in the left lung to be the same type since they did not biopsy it.

The doctor explained that this cancer is not curable but responds well to treatment. The treatment may take care of the tumors, but at some point in time, the cancer will return. Hopefully, it won't return for years and years.

My treatment for now is chemotherapy, but they may add radiation later. My first treatment started on December 29th. I go for three days in a row. The first day lasts about 5 or 6 hours. The second and third day is only about 2 hours. I will have this treatment every 21 days for an undertermined amount of treatments. After 3 treatments, they will run more tests to see what the drugs are accomplishing and then will decide how many more treatments I may need.

Last week was my second treatment week. I seem to be having a minimum of side effects so far. The only real side effect I have had is that I have lost all my hair. Now I need to get busy and design some nifty looking hats. I will view this as a crafting opportunity.

On a happy note, I am going to be a Grandma again. My younger daughter announced that her and her hubbie are expecting a baby. I am so excited. They have been trying for 11 years with no luck and had all but given up the notion of having children. The due date is August 4th.

I will leave you now with some pictures I received for Christmas from my grandbabies, Joshua Stephen and Olivia Grace. If I would have known grandchildren were going to be so much fun, I would have had them first.





Take care.