I have cancer.
I thought long and hard about how I'd start this post. There it is. Three words. I used to have this blog for silly everyday thoughts, but stopped writing a few years ago. I'm back. I have a story to tell.
Here it goes....In a routine check up, my gyn/ob found what she thought was a fibroid on either my cervix or uterus. At the time that she found it, she wasn't sure where it was originating because it was so large. She decided to do a D & C to remove it. Turns out, when she got in there, things weren't going to go as planned. It didn't look right and it was even larger than she had anticipated. She ended up leaving it where it was and doing a biopsy instead.
You know what takes long? Biopsy results....around Christmas time. Three days after the surgery/biopsy, I went to the emergency room because I was having some heavy bleeding. Four days after the surgery/biopsy, I was admitted to the hospital. I lost so much blood that I passed out....twice. Four blood transfusions later, it was Christmas Eve morning and I was sitting in a hospital bed. That sucks.
My doctor that did the surgery/biopsy came in to my room bright and early to let me know I was being discharged. Yahoo! But there was bad news, too. The preliminary results from the biopsy came back and the cells were abnormal...cancer. That was the first mention of the C-word. Here it is Christmas Eve and my Dr. is sitting on the edge of my bed, wearing an obnoxious Santa Christmas sweater (it was fantastic), telling me she's made me an appointment with a gynecologic oncologist at Roswell. Merry Friggin Christmas.
This definitely wasn't my most favorite Christmas ever. Let's be honest, Santa was kind of a dick this year. Luckily, I have the cutest kids ever (ages 1 & 5) and the magic was not lost. If anything makes your heart smile, it's watching your kids come downstairs on Christmas morning.
Three days after Christmas I made my first trip to Roswell and had my first visit with my oncologist. I had an oncologist. This is real. Unfortunately, because of the holiday season, they STILL didn't have my biopsy results. The Dr. did an exam and then we had a chat. He's assuming it's cervical cancer. We set up a hypothetical plan around his hypothetical diagnosis - we'll do radiation with a hint of chemotherapy to shrink the mass. First, we'll start with a "quick and easy" surgery. They need to move my ovaries up and out of the radiation zone. They want to keep those safe and un-radiated. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't scared. That's weird. The Dr. was optimistic, so I was, too.
Next week, I'll get a PET scan that will check me out from head to toe (well, technically not toe, more like mid-thigh) and that will tell them whether the cancer is anywhere else in my body. They assure me those results will come a lot faster than the biopsy results. They better. I'm an impatient person. I'm not a good wait-er.
So there it is. My 2016 will be full of adventures. I'm Lesley Maloney and I have cancer.
5 comments:
I'm Christina Abt and I'm your friend....but not a friend to your cancer. Let me know what you know what you need to fight this rat bastard and I'll be there.
I was wondering if we can wear red shoes on Fridays?
Thanks Christina! And we can definitely do that, Anne :)
Prays of love and strength. We serve a God bigger than cancer love to you
Hope you will recover soon from this disease and have a healthy life real soon and I pry for your speedy recovery. Get well soon.
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