April 01, 2006

No End To The Testing

Mark and I caught the flu together right after my last post. With a compromised lung, a cold or flu can be serious enough to hospitalize me if I can't shake it. Thankfully, I came through and am feeling so much better now. We both had a cough (the tickling, choking kind), and body aches all over with headache. In addition, I had a low grade fever every evening for eight nights in a row. Around 10 p.m. just like clock-work, the chills would start and my temp would go to 101.7 degrees F.

Turns out Mark has a double lung infection and is on his second round of antibiotics. It took eleven days altogether for me to start feeling human again and a few more days after that before I was completely back to normal. We both had our flu shots plus I had a pnuemonia shot last fall as well. Good thing ... can't imagine how sick we may have become without them.

Had to cancel an ultrasound and a mammogram that was scheduled for March 20th and re-book for this Monday (April 3rd.) This time two years ago, I was being put through every test imaginable to see if the cancer had metastasized to another part of my body. The tumour on the lymph node was secondary and the doctors were unable to find my primary. They had to go on the assumption that it was lurking somewhere in the upper lobe of my right lung. Apparently this can happen and the cells can hide undetected in the bronchi of the lung. This is why they call it an occult primary. In addition to chest x-rays I already had, there were mammograms, bone scans, CT scans, MRIs and a PET scan I had to travel to Buffalo for (the waiting list was too long in Ontario). My CEA was elevated to 859 which is usually indicative of pancreatic or stomach involvement, so an endoscopy and colonoscopy were performed as well. Results of that were negative, so they believe my high count is due to the fact that I was a smoker. Yes, I was a nicotine addict of 40 years. Of course, I quit cold turkey back in January 2004 when they first suspected something was wrong with me but I didn't yet have a diagnosis of lung cancer. It was like I knew I had tempted fate far too long already to continue poisoning my body.

Even though the oncologists wanted to start treatment as soon as possible, it took until the first week in July before all the tests could be completed and they could "map" me for my radiation. During this time I continued to work full-time at my job ... it was helping to keep me sane! My treatment program consisted of combined chemo and radiation for six weeks solid. The drugs and the rays were given very aggressively, to the point that I had my limit of radiation and should they not get it all or I should have a recurrence, it would have to be chemo only. My doctors were amazed that I continued to work all through my treatment but that's just the way I am ... stubborn. I figured if I could carry on as normal as possible, it would help get me through the hardest part of what lay ahead. Three days after my treatment stopped, I had to ask Mark to call in to work and tell them I wouldn't be in. I was hospitalized with a high fever and because my white blood cell count was so low, I was unable to fight off a throat infection that developed. A blood transfusion helped to bring my white count up and after 10 days in hospital, I was allowed to go home. Now I thought everything would get back to "normal" and it was just a matter of letting my body heal. Little did I realize that this was just the beginning of a journey that would leave me permanently disabled and continually fighting the long-term side effects of lung cancer treatment.

Posted by Sue Checkley on April 1, 2006 09:53 PM

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Posted by: Tatess at December 8, 2006 06:15 PM

Posted by: Tatess at December 8, 2006 06:16 PM

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