A Cancer War Update...

Coming a couple of weeks earlier than I expected, there's mostly good news in the cancer war:

This past Thursday, when I arrived at school, I was having some freaky respiratory issues. Every little movement I made was causing me to gasp for breath like I had run a mile, even at one point forcing me to take a seat for 10 minutes just to recover after climbing a flight of stairs. This turn of event caused some consternation for myself and my colleagues who kept telling me to go home or to see the doctor, but being as stubborn as I am, I completed my day of work on Thursday - taking a wait and see approach. By Friday, when I arrived at school for a professional development session, the respiratory issues were still a concern. I called the oncologist's office to report the latest problems. After speaking with a nurse, who determined that it could be a number of factors: the cancer, the chemo, the anemia, or even environmental, it was suggested that I go see the doctor who fortunately had an afternoon appointment available. I was told to arrive a little early to have some blood drawn.  I then got a second call from the nurse who indicated that their blood testing machines were being serviced so I would need to stop by the hospital to get the blood drawn. And so begins a crazy day.

I spent a portion of the professional development time quite literally swinging from the rafters. To facilitate team building, the staff of my school participated in several interesting activities in the field house (aka: gymnasium) of our school. One of the events: staff members were individually tethered to a rope around our waists, hauled up about 40 or so feet in the air, and then released to swing wildly. What an amazing rush! Not as good as skydiving but pretty amazing. Should I have done this task while having respiratory problems? <shrug> Don't know, don't care!

After PD was completed for the day, I drove to the hospital where I had my blood drawn. Next, I drove to the doctor's office (I could have walked - but didn't). I explained my symptoms to the doctor who was concerned that perhaps I had developed a blood clot in my lungs. He decided to send me for a CT scan. Although, he did say that my blood levels had dropped so it could be the anemia which was causing the respiratory issues. Next, I hauled myself back to the hospital where I needed to pick up barium sulfate suspension for the scan. I left the hospital and headed for home for a couple of hours where I drank the "yummy" barium milkshakes before returning to the hospital for the CT scan. After the scan, the technician suggested that I hang around until the radiologist read the films because if there was a clot, I would have to return to the hospital anyway. I waited approximately 20-30 minutes for the results. 

Here's the good news: not only was there no blood clot that he could see, the tumors that I'm being treated for were either completely gone or, in the case of the larger tumors, severely reduced. Now, does this mean that I'm cancer free? No. These results mean that - for the moment - chemotherapy is working. It will still be 5 years after the completion of treatment before I can be considered cancer free, but for the moment, it looks like I'll be around for awhile longer. What is causing the respiratory issues? Well, it's probably from the anemia, although that's just a supposition. 

And so it goes...

A Tagxedo of my cancer posts!