How long were you sick before you received a diagnosis?
I'm thankful that I had a family doctor who refused to give up on me. By the time the leukemia blast cells were discovered, it was months of repeated bloodwork and tests. It was brutal. I had been sick for a year and a half.
I remember feeling like I should just give up at the time. Did you feel the same? How long did it take for your diagnosis?
I continued contacting my primary doctor for well over a year with symptoms from fatigue, heart racing, stomach pain into my shoulder. She kept blaming my symptoms on menopause and heart burn. Then I felt this mass on my left stomach, come to find out it was my spleen enlarging.
She referred me to an oncologist.I know that spleen pain! It can be excruciating! To top it off with a bone marrow biopsy and pneumonia?!! OMG! Pain can be very scary to most people. To trudge through it and come out the other end with a positive attitude?! That's strength and resilience down to the very core.
I remember being at the Urgent Care Clinic for infections related to leukemia. One of the nurses commented to the other nurse that cancer patients are the nicest people to treat. I put that feather in my cap! We seem to have this ability to face pain head on and not be babies about it. I am so proud to have a community like this. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and your strength.
Cancer can take up so much of our time. What do you do to stay busy? I like to take on little projects, care for animals, and as a Nintendo fan I always have a interesting video game to play. How about you?
Hi there! Dealing with an enlarged spleen is no fun at all! After finding out it was my spleen and how dangerous it is, I walked around for months holding my stomach like a pregnant person, so no one or thing could cause any injury.
It is wild how familiar a lot of your story is to my own. The going for over a year to get diagnosed. The attitude the medical people had towards us. Crazy stuff!
Yeah, having pneumonia, in the hospital for six days, labs every 4am, and a bone marrow biopsy! I joked, hey I am just laying around here nothing else going on, why not a biopsy? That was the only time I was sedated for one though, which was great. I was feeling good until it wore off. lol The medical staff was great and we cracked jokes the whole time.
I had some nurses that were so funny! I need that. Those boards on the wall in the hospital rooms, with the pain faces, patient, and nurse info? Well, I always write on there- coffee and laughter - my live language 😉
I have been a regular at the Oncology ER and transfusion place and they all tell me I am so positive, even when I am feeling crappy I am pleasant. They are all so sweet. I am truly lucky to have such a great medical team.
If I am going to spend one day every week, at this point, getting labs, seeing the doc, and getting transfusions, which I usually need, I don’t want to be miserable about it.
As far as keeping busy, I teach remote, which involves grading and emailing outside of class. That takes up a bit of time.
I am a graphic designer, so at any given time I am designing something, usually a handful of posters on social issue topics. I love to paint and draw. I am currently doing a painting of my aunt’s two puppy dogs for her. I love painting portraits.
I have never been into video games, but I do teach basic animation courses, which is good fun.
I have a cat, Faye. After my diagnosis I moved in with my cousin so she can take care for me. She has a husband, son, three cats, and a large dog, so that keeps things interesting. No-one has killed anyone yet! It is fun trying to keep my immune system right with it all, but luckily my numbers are going up.
If anyone can relate I certainly can. I spent three months in the hospital, the first two eating nothing but broth and ice, before they finally came up with a diagnosis they were satisfied with. That was after four other diagnoses, mind you. At first they were convinced it was an ulcer, then after three weeks and two trips to the same local hospital, I said enough is enough and transferred to the city hospital. Then, after spending two months there and them going back and forth between remedies including major surgery and radiation, and after FOUR, yes four, endoscopic echo biopsies (pathology dropped the ball bigtime), they finally decided it was lymphoma and I was home after a long weekend. It was awful, I got down to almost 115 lbs from close to 170. You are certainly not alone! Keep on keepin 'on, DPM
