So - it all started happening the 3rd week in July. I was shaving one morning and I noticed a lump on the left side of my neck (see pictures). It was painless and felt pretty solid. I decided to make an appointment with my primary care doctor to find out what exactly it was.
WARNING: HEALTH CARE RANT: I am tired of hearing people say we have the best health care system in the world - and I will give you this personal experience as an example. My primary care doctor is affiliated with Norton Health care system. My insurance is through Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Norton and Anthem got into some pissing match about their contract - so Anthem dropped Norton Health care system from its coverage. So...that left me with a mysterious lump in my neck with no doctor to go to. It took me several phone calls over a couple of days dealing with rude receptionist just to try and find a doctor that would accept new patients. Then - when I wanted to get a copy of my medical records from my original primary care doctor to bring to the new primary care doctor - I was told it would be at least a month before I could get them. Ridiculous. Hell - I was willing to go down there - bring my file to a Kinko's - make the copies - then bring the file back.
Ok..sorry..back to the timeline. I ended up getting an appointment with my new primary doctor on July 23.
July 23 - see primary care doctor. He can't explain what it is. Refers me to Ear/Nose/Throat doctor
July 30 - See ENT doctor. He can't really determine what is is. Sends me for CT scan and biopsy
Aug 7 - Get CT scan and Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy. The CT scan was weird. They inject you with some contrast dye. The nurse said I would start to feel flush in my face - the a warm sensation all over my body. Well...the first thing I felt was my asshole burning. I started freaking out. I thought that maybe the contrast dye had caused me to release my bowels..and that I was now shitting my pants. I panicked for a few seconds..then I started to get the warm sensation all over my body...so..calmed down.
Aug 12 - ENT calls with result from biopsy. Not good. They have found abnormal cells in my lymph node.. He says they need to remove the lymph node so they can do better testing on it to pinpoint the problem. He mentions words like lymphoma and low grade leukemia (yikes!) I call my Mom to let her know and I end up breaking down and crying - which I thought was weird because I am usually not that emotional of a person.
Aug 19 - Surgery to remove the lymph node. Also got a upper body CT scan done to check for any more tumors.
Aug 23 - This was a bad day. Really bad headache and nausea. Think it was from the pain meds.
Aug 25 - Follow up appoint with doctor that preformed the surgery to remove lymph node. Pathology report diagnosed it as Diffuse Large B-Cell Non Hodgkin Lymphoma. Good news is the CT scan did not show any other tumors. Also had blood work done in preparation for appointment with Oncology doctor and meet with a social worker to discuss cancer diagnosis
Aug 26 - Met with Oncology doctor. He took a bone marrow sample (OUCH!) and scheduled me for a PET Scan, an echocaridogram, and chemotherapy.
Aug 28 - Get PET Scan done.
Sept 1 - Have a chemo education class. Talk with a nurse practitioner about all the chemo drugs and the side effects. She says without a doubt I will lose my all my hair (I thought it was just a possibility - she said it is a given). Get echocardigram done.
Sept 3 - The dreaded chemo day
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