The Return of the Big "C"!

Subtitle: The Anemic Teacher Gets Schooled

Some people might question why I'm probably going to be writing about some highly personal medical issues over the next couple of months or so, but I feel that if through my experiences I can help someone going through similar issues, then I will have fulfilled my job as a caring human being.

One of the first blogs I ever wrote - back in 2008 - The Big "C"!! - was all about my experience with having and being treated for breast cancer.  Then last week I wrote about being severely anemic and how proud I was that I still kept to my schedule to show my students that I was committed to my job and their education.  Okay, here's where I got schooled!  Never let these types of medical issues go untreated!  Dumb, dumb, dumb!!

Due to some severe blood loss over the past few weeks, I knew that I was dealing with being anemic, but it wasn't until Monday I found out how bad it was.  Monday morning, I went to my primary care physician who took one look at my face and said that I was anemic.  He then had some blood drawn and off I went to work.  I got to work and nearly passed out climbing a flight of stairs, but managed to make it through my work day.  I returned home and promptly fell asleep.  Waking up around 11pm, I noticed that I had missed a few calls - all from my PCP who said that I needed to get to the emergency room because my hematocrit levels were 16.9%. Normal hematocrit levels are 40%. Okay, 16.9%! That's bad. So off I go at 11:30pm to my local emergency room with the thought that I'd get a couple of pints of blood and be on my way back home.  Erm.  Yeah, not so fast with those assumptions.  By the way, the best comment I heard when I got to the ER:  "You look like Casper the friendly ghost."  Ha!

I regaled the staff at the hospital with my recent medical issues who promptly called in the gynecologist on call.  After meeting with her, she said that I wasn't going to go home until they figured out what was going on.  She set me up immediately with a few tests - a transvaginal ultrasound and a biopsy of the lining of my uterus - in addition to receiving two pints of blood.  Next thing I know it's 4am and I'm being admitted to the hospital.  Later that morning (around 9am), my hematocrit levels were at 19% and I was given the results of the ultrasound - a fibroid tumor and a couple of lesions on both ovaries.  But no results yet of the biopsy.  I received a third pint of blood to raise my levels (to 22%) and had an MRI for a more thorough look at my lady parts.

Today, the biopsy results came in - endometrial cancer - Stage 3.  FFFFFF**K! Not again!  So 5½ (-ish) years after my last cancer diagnosis, I have to once again face a potentially fatal disease. Really, Lady Luck?? Couldn't you find someone else?? I'm sure there's someone else out there who deserves something like this - isn't there a dictator somewhere who deserves a little misery? Of course, it's highly probable that it's because of the breast cancer treatment (specifically the treatment with tamoxifen) which may have attributed to my current medical condition.  The risk of developing endometrial cancer from tamoxifen is small -- about 1 in 500 -- so I guess we can say that I hit the jackpot.  Why couldn't I just pick the winning lottery numbers??

As I feel the need, I will occasionally write about my current medical issues and experiences.

Next up: Meeting with the surgeon at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.  (Nope, I cannot have it done in Newburyport!)

Some get well cards from my students!