I am still alive-- waiting for a break

[SandraChick]

It's been a tough spring for me this year...obvious for those who are used to me coming on this board all the time who must be wondering if I fell off the face of the earth!

Ealier this year, we found out (by sheer luck) that my 19yo step son had a mass on his liver and he just had it surgically removed a couple weeks ago. The surgery went excellent and he's recovering well-- however after the "oh so top expert" UCSF doctor assured us it was not cancer---it did turn out to be a VERY RARE form of cancer. This type of cancer has little to no side effects and does not have any 'markers' in the blood, so he seemed healthy and all his blood work looked wonderful. (so rare the expert lead oncologist on the case with 50+years of experience has only seen this 2 times before)

We just found out last Thursday that he is considered cancer free as the surgery was sucessful and his lung scan came back clean but with liver cancer it's all about early intervention and his form of cancer is so rare they've decided to put him on "diligent surveillance"--that means he's getting his abdomen scanned EVERY THREE months for at least a year and then they'll revisit do decide if they should continue at that pace. He has a TEAM of oncologists that also work with an interdisciplinary team to chart his course to manage the potential for recurrence and treatment. Good news is they decided he doesn't need any chemo.

My uncle just died a little over a month ago from lung cancer so that was fresh in my mind the whole time....especially when they told us they wanted another scan of the lung as liver cancers tend to mastasticise to the lungs (eek!)

a colleague and mentor of mine just died of a stroke leaving two teenage children and a wife behind--to be followed by another professional colleague also dying of a stroke within a week

I own my own business and I'm barely keeping afloat on my work load so I'm stressed to the max both personally and professionally

and to add to that---I got a bad case of a sinus infection and had to go to urgent care last friday and I'm just now able to get up for more than an hour or two at a time.

GEESH....I need a break---I can't take any more bad news!

On the good front- chickens are well although hiding eggs again (can't find the darn golf balls to put back in their nest) and the duck has started laying again after trying to go broody a couple months ago (we missed her eggs especially for baking and panckakes). so far, chicken damage to my flower beds has been minimal so my method to madness is working and I'm sure good news is just around the corner (i'm counting on it).

Thanks for letting me vent--it'll be a while before I'm back full bore and participating here "full time".

Sandra

 

[Sherry]

Keep your chin up. As my best friend used to tell me "this too shall pass".

 

[Cheri]

Amen Sherry amen.

Sandra!

 

[kansas_twister]

sandra

take your step son in to your arms and give him a big hug!! remind him he's lucky to be here........

I last saw my parents in november of last year for thanksgiving (they flew here from canada) to spend a few days, i would call every so often to see how thing's where going at home, i did not return for christmass to see the folks back home, but would keep in touch.

I last spoke to my mom on march 16th, and that was the last time i spoke to her, my father called late one night in tears (my father never cries) to tell my my mother has had a storke that she was in hospital. after many test it was determand that she was stage 4 cancer and the cancer cuased the stroke, she only lived for another 2 weeks, i miss her so much still

 

[xrayman]

As Sherry said keep you chin up!!! I'm a I do cat scans and see alot of oncology patients. If he gets tired of the barium milk shake tell them to use gastroview and mix it with cool aid, it goes down alot better.

 

[Judymae]

I'm sorry to both of ya'll. Just remember that it always gets better. It may feel like it can't but it does. I know. My MIL died from lung cancer in Feb 06-one week later my then 5 year old started having seizures. He was having 10-15 a day and then another 10-15 at nite. It was the hardest thing. They wouldn't diagnose him until he had several tests. I just knew it was gonna be brain cancer! It wasn't! He has epilepsy. I was so relieved. I instantly thought the worse after my MIL's death and it really wasn't. He has now been seizure free over a whole year! It always gets better!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Oh dear does sound like you have a full plate of fuzzy lollipop sticks...
Here's hoping and

that things will settle down for you.

 

[dlhunicorn]

:aww (sending good-luck fairy dust your way!)

 

[ozark hen]

My prayers go out to each and everyone of you. Brings tears to my eyes as I cannot imagine what you all must be going through.

 

[SandraChick]

thank you all for your kind encouragement

xrayman- it was the radiologist who nailed it from the beginning and I have a huge amount of respect for the profession. Those barium shakes he had to take were for the unrelated scan that found the tumor (they were checking the intestines and found the liver tumor). I sure do wish we had known about the gastroview and coolaid- we kept having to get more shake into him as he'd puke it up.

kansas twister- my heart goes out to you- it is so difficult to lose loved ones. My uncle just died of lung cancer - that makes relative #4 betwen DH and I. DH's mother actually beat lung cancer only to then have a brain tumor that actually killed her (supposedly not that uncommon a fate for people who beat lung cancer- but only hospice doctors will tell you that).

All I know is that my appreciation for life and loved ones has dramatically increased and my hope is that just enough of the heartache stays with me always as a reminder of how precious life and loved ones are!

Sandra