Chemotherapy #5

I  had my fifth Chemotherapy on December 23rd, two days before my 23rd Birthday!  This time though I decided to do something differently.  For the labs before the actual chemo I normally was getting the blood drawn from my arm, when I had this port sitting there in my chest that I could have used this whole time.  This time I asked if I could use the port, this way I would only get poked by one needle during my visit instead of two, and I don't know about you... but that sounds okay to me.  After a quick call from the lady checking me in it was set up.  I went to the room where I get the chemo and they poked me, took the blood, and left the needle in there to use again for chemo later.  This was the only new thing for the chemo process.  After that, went out and talked to the doctor and then waited for chemo.  I got a single room again for this session, which is nice I think.  It didn't have it's own (shared) bathroom though which would have been nice this time.  It was the three of us once again, Dad, Taylor, and of course me.  Samantha showed up for a little bit too which is always nice.

Turns out my hypothesis on the chemo here in Saint Cloud vs in Grand Forks wasn't correct.  After this last one I did a little sick on a couple days, and on others feeling like I will -- which I think is worse.  Luckily I have two anti-nausea medications and one is stronger than the other.  It has been helping, I try not to take it unless I need it though.  Which has been lately.

One other thing, I have noticed some hair occasionally in the shower and other places like on my computer or something.  So it seems like it is starting to fall out, and I and others have noticed it looking a lot thinner.  I still got plenty of hair, just looks thin.

That's it for now, hope you're all doing well.

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.

Chemotherapy # 4

Hey guys, sorry this post is so late.  I'll try not to do that for the next one coming up on Friday.

Anyway, on December 9th I had my 4th Chemotherapy, which brings the end to cycle 2.  Dr. Gorouhi said that typically he would re-stage me after the 2nd - 4th cycle.  He has chosen to do so after the 4th because I am home for Christmas break for the whole 3rd cycle.  I'll be doing both of those here in Saint Cloud.  When I am re-staged I will have my second PET scan and they well hopefully put me lower than my current stage.  If things are going well we just continue, if things aren't going as they should he may introduce radiation into my treatment.  Let's hope that is not the case.

My company for this session of Chemotherapy were my dad, Timmy, and Taylor.  Taylor came a little late because she had a study session to go to, as it was the Friday before finals week.  When she got there though it was great.  I had a huge chair again so she could sit in there with me.  Nothing unusual about the Chemo process it all went normally, but they did tell me that my white blood cell count is low and that I am not to eat certain foods, including some veggies and fruits because of it.  Also I was given a handful of masks to wear.  I don't want to wear them though.  I will if I have too.  When school starts up again in January I will sit away from others in case they are sick.  I will just have to keep my hands real clean all the time.  Hopefully I don't get sick!

While we were there we ordered some food, it was really late and only came right when we were ready to leave.  Our money was returned and also some $10 gift cards were given, along with the food also.  So free food, and $30 dollars worth of gift card.  Not to shabby.

I did feel pretty sick after this one, probably worse of all.  I am thinking that the Chemos in Grand Forks are a bit tougher on me since they give it quicker than in Saint Cloud.  Not sure if that is why, I want to see how I do after the next one in Saint Cloud.  In either case, I'm bound to not feel great regardless.

Next chemotherapy is this coming Friday, December 23rd.  I'll try to update that one right after.


Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays.

PS. Feel free to post comments everyone, it is nice to hear from you too.

Chemo 3, Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Chemo number 3 is under completed a week ago, with that I am half way through cycle 2 which will finish this upcoming Friday, December 9th.  For my third session I was again in Saint Cloud, at the Coborn Cancer Center.  This time things went a little more smoothly though, since it wasn't my first time there they had things more together and we ended up getting in and out of there a whole lot quicker.  Like usual when we first got there I signed in at the front and went for labs where they take the blood.  Then we sit and wait until they bring us back.  My company for the time was, as usual, my dad, and Taylor was able to come.  She'll be able to go to the next one in Grand Forks as well.  Samantha stopped by on her lunch break too.  I think she was actually able to leave at that time.  While we waited to go in my dad sat and read the newspaper while Taylor and I did a puzzle that was sitting out.  We didn't get very far on it, it was a harder puzzle with lots of blues.  This waiting felt long, but really it wasn't that bad.  Eventually we were called back and brought to the room.  Room 13, my dad wasn't a fan of the number he said.  This was a single room, where last time I had a double room.  It had a TV against a wall, instead of basically on the ceiling.  There was a private-shared bathroom.  It was shared between two rooms, though none of us ended up using it.

When the nurse poked the needle into my port she said that she missed, apparently there is a smaller area in there that needs to be hit.  So she had to pull the thing out and jab me again.  This hurts, but it is getting less sensitive.  I don't think it's bad enough to ask for the numbing cream.  After that things went smoothly.  There was no need to test one of the drugs this time since I had been through it previously so we were in and out of there in record time!  Saint Cloud does drip the last one a little slower than Grand Forks so I suspect next Friday to be even quicker.  I guess we'll see.

Update on the hair:  Still not really noticing anything, the other day I did see some hairs but it wasn't many.  It's still growing normally as of now, just shaved down.

The other things I did over break were have a couple Thanksgiving meals, and go out on black friday before the chemo.  On Thanksgiving day I spent it at Taylor's house.  Her family came over and we all shared a nice big turkey dinner.  I love turkey, and can't wait to get some more at our family Christmas.  There were these jello eggs, normally I don't go for jello but when they were like this I did.  I had three of them I do believe.  Not bad.  We also had another Thanksgiving meal on Saturday, at my brother Brad's place.  My dad, Brad and Samantha were there along with Chris (Samantha's boyfriend), Taylor, and Brad's family.  Wife Sarah, and kids Addy and Elly.  Another nice family meal.  We played the White Elephant gift game too.  It was a good time.

On Black Friday Taylor and I went out to Target, since they opened at midnight.  Really our trip wasn't worth it because neither of us got anything worthwhile.  When we did go though we arrived to a huuuuge line.  We ended up following some people and made our way into the mall and waited outside Target there.  This door wasn't going to open until everyone from the line had gotten in.  When the doors did open and people started running through the store Taylor and I watched from behind glass.  We felt like we were at a zoo, and had fun just watching the chaos.  We both bought some small things, and waited in the big line for the checkout and then headed home to sleep before chemo.  Samantha did buy a big television, she was one of the people running through the store who waited in that big line.  Glad she got it.

Hair Change

With a lot of the reading I have been doing online it seems that a lot of people started losing their hair after their second round of chemo.  Since I had just done my second time I thought I would just cut off my hair.  I kept reading people saying that it got hot and itchy when it was falling out, and I didn't want to go through that discomfort so I thought it would just be easier to cut it off.  Taylor's mom Cindy has been cutting my hair ever since Taylor and I started dating, even the summer before when we were hanging out a lot too, so I asked her to do it.  If it had started falling out before I got there I would have had it done elsewhere, but luckily that didn't happen.  Cindy wanted to have a little fun with it, here are some pictures of the night.

A before photo.

Me with blonde hair!

Side view mohawk, notice the back is still brown.

Front mohawk, looks odd.

BALD

Chemotherapy #2

So it has been a week since my second chemotherapy session, which brought me to the end to cycle one.  Two sessions is one cycle, and I'm set up for six.  This time I had my chemo done in Saint Cloud, because I was home for Veteran's Day weekend.  Taylor and I got to enjoy a extra day home, which was really nice, but it still went really quick.  Anyway the day started very early.  We had to be there at 8am for labs.  So we woke up nice and early, Taylor stayed over so she could come with.  When we got to the Coborn Cancer Center I thought the place looked nice, it was big.  The Altru center is smaller in Grand Forks.  We parked and went in. At the desk to sign in the lady had me sign of a few things since it was my first time at the place, and then she told me I was here for labs and to meet with the doctor.  I told her that I had chemo that day too, but she said I did not and that the earliest I can get in is Monday.  This was not a good thing, because Dr. Gorouhi wants me to do it every two weeks on the Friday, not even waiting a day.  My Dad was really upset about this and tried explaining what needed to happen, then the lady made a call to see why my chemo wasn't scheduled.  After a bit we were told that I was going to receive my chemo on this day, but the doctor just wanted to see me before it was on the schedule, or something?  I'm not really sure.  I was given a paper and told to go put it in this slot and wait for my labs.  Right away I was brought back and had my blood drawn.  The lady didn't use my port, instead she used my arm.  That was okay I thought since I would have another needle soon in the port for the chemo.

There was a lot of waiting now after the labs.  We got there around 8 and got into chemo after 10.  While we were waiting there was another mix up that had to be fixed, something with the insurance.  Something had not been done prior to our little sort-of-transfer to Saint Cloud.  It wasn't good, but the lady who told us about it got it fixed fairly quickly.  Needless to say it stressed my Dad out some more.  So far he wasn't too pleased with the Coborn Cancer Center.  He kept saying that the people at the Altru Cancer Center were friendlier.  I thought this place wasn't bad.  Another strange thing happened while I was sitting there waiting.  A girl who I worked with in my previous two jobs now works there.  She came out to call for a patient, and no one was coming up.  I recognized her and waved and she came over and called for the patient again.  I looked at her and she asked if I was the patient, so I asked if she recognized me.  She said no, so I said okay.  Then she walked off.  Taylor thought the whole situation was very awkward, I was okay with it.  Ha ha.  Finally though it was time to go back!  I was brought into room number 5, which was a double room.  There is just a curtain separating my room from room 6.  Room 6 was empty, however.  There was a bathroom right across from me so that was nice because if I have to use it I have to drag along this thing that I am hooked up to with me.  There was a small television in a weird spot, to l watch it you had to really look up.  Since it was my first time in Saint Cloud, or maybe because it was still cycle one I had to do a test of the bleomycin (the B in ABVD).  This time it was only a half hour to watch for side effects instead of an hour.  No side effects so we went ahead with all of the chemo real smoothly.

Chemotherapy # 2

I had a bunch of visitors this time.  My dad and Taylor were there with me the whole time.  Samantha came to visit, and so did my dad's friend, and I got to meet my great aunt who was there because she also had a form of cancer.  Also the girl who who didn't recognize me earlier popped in and apologized saying she knew who I was.  I thought that was funny.  Turns out there was a calender in the room that had a very old photo of my great aunt on it!  Crazy!  

My great aunt when she was younger

Snow!

As I left my Microbiology class today I was surprised to see snow!  First snow of the year here in Grand Forks.  It came down heavy for a few minutes, but has died down now and looks as if it has stopped.  None on the ground, but the ground is wet.  Hope it doesn't snow tomorrow at all, because Taylor and I will be headed home to Saint Cloud around 2:30 PM.  If I could have gone home earlier I would have, for multiple reasons.  One, just to be home, but more importantly since I can't leave early I am missing my Grandma's funeral.  She passed away earlier this week.  I am sad that I didn't get to see her one last time, and it was awhile since our last visit.  Over the weekend while I am home I plan on visiting her grave, since I won't be able to go to anything else.

Update on Bone Marrow

I was just looking over the blog and I realized that I forgot to mention something.  The Bone Marrow test came back negative so the cancer is not Stage 4.  Stage 3bs.  There is some good news!

Also, for my next Chemotherapy session I will be at home in St. Cloud, MN.  It is scheduled for 11/11/11.  A week has passed since my first Chemotherapy and I am feeling just fine.  Every morning I do feel some nausea but it usually doesn't go further, besides the first couple days after the chemo when I did actually get sick.  Not to worry though, I have some nausea medication and turns out the one that I thought I had lost I have found!  Some more good news.

Anyway, just wanted to give that quick update for anyone who might be checking this regularly.  I am surprised on how many views the blog has gotten since I posted about all this.  I'll try to update more often for you guys, even if it is something short like this.

Have a good weekend!

POWER Portacath and my first Chemotherapy

THURSDAY:

Thursday was the day I was allowed to shower after getting the bone marrow biopsy which I was waiting for, however I wanted more sleep so I did not wake up early enough to shower.  Instead I woke up a half hour 45 minutes before my procedure, got ready, and went to warm up the Explorer.  When I got outside the windows were frozen.  After waiting 10-15 min of letting it heat up while I sat right inside the dorm watching it I decided it was time to go check it out.  Inside wasn't freezing anymore, but the windows were still frosted so I had to scrape them.  After that I got in and was on my way.  My destination today was to the Emergency / Urgent Care entrance.  When I got there I parked and headed in to check in at the front desk.  Immediately I was brought back instead of waiting for so long.  After that I was asked to sit in the waiting room and was there not even 10 minutes before someone came to get me.  I was brought back to the a room with a bed and was asked to change into the gown.  Only had to take off my shirt and shoes.  Then I crawled into the bed, where they gave me those warm hospital blankets.  Those are nice.  Now it was time for the I.V. (Should be the last!)  Everyone always comments on how great my veins are.  The nurse said if they had a student nurse around she would have asked if it would of been okay for them to poke me.  I would have let them, because if I get into the nursing program I will have to do it to people too, and my veins are big so it would be easy for them.  Soon after being hooked up with the I.V. and questions finished somebody came to take me away.  On the way we passed the place where I had my CT scan.

Power Port!

I was brought back to another room where I was greeted by a couple nurses.  They went over some stuff with me about what was going to happen and then I was moved again into the room for the procedure.  I was awake for the whole time, they put some sedating medicine through the I.V. but kept me awake.  A Power Portacath is what was being implanted into my chest. With this I won't have to be poked in my veins anymore.  This thing will be used for my Chemotherapy and for labs.  Pretty neat.  Anyway, in the room I transferred from the bed I was wheeled in on onto a thin operating table kinda thing.  Some lady did a sonogram to locate my vein that they wanted to use.  After everything was all set up they cut me open and put it in and I transferred back to the bed that I came in on.  The doctor said twice there will be a burn and a poke and at those times it did hurt, but other than that I didn't feel anything going on.  Was a real quick procedure.  After I was wheeled back to the first room I went to with the bed where I drank plenty of apple juice and water and watched the History channel for an hour before my buddy Eric picked me up.


FRIDAY:

Friday was the day I did my first Chemotherapy.  When I got to the cancer center I was with my Dad.  He came along, and says that he will be at every chemo.  He doesn't have to be, but if he wants to be there that is okay with me.  We talked to a nurse as usual first and after a little wait Dr. Gorouhi came in.  He was telling me that we could wait til Monday to start or start today.  Starting Monday would give a very accurate baseline, as I had a pulmonary test on Monday, but starting today would be just fine too.  I opted to go today, because of later scheduling and my Dad had already came up there for it and I just wanted to get it started too.  It was more convenient to go on the Friday I thought.  So that is what we did.  I was brought back to the Chemotherapy room and was told to choose a seat.  They had plenty to choose from.  I went with room number 7 I do believe.  We just sat there for awhile because they had to get everything ready for me.  A couple different nurses came by to talk and a volunteer came by with a menu that we could order food off of.  We both ordered some food that was supposed to come around 12:30ish.  After awhile I was hooked up through my port and everything started.  All I had to do was sit there, and watch TV.  I had the History channel on.  Taylor finished class and had a break so she came to visit for as long as she could.  She wanted to be there for the whole thing, but couldn't due to class.  She didn't miss much.  After about a half hour from when Taylor arrived our food arrived and Taylor had to head back to class and work.  The food wasn't bad, I had a personal pizza with fries and pretzels and chocolate milk.  I don't remember what Dad had, but he said it wasn't bad either.  He did have chocolate pudding though I remember that because it looked good.  While I ate the nurse pushed the 3 medicines into my port and then set up the last one which had to drip and would last about an hour.  During this time my buddy Brian Weyer got in town and came to visit.  He was already in Fergus Falls before so he didn't have to drive far to get there, but on his trip home later would have to go all the way back to St. Joe.  It was good to see him because it had been quite a long time, and anyone wanting to come visit me is welcomed.

Me getting receiving my chemo through my port

Not much to say past that.  Since Friday I have been doing just fine.  Tired, but some of my medication can do that and I've just been tired lately.  A good nap takes care of that though.

Some rest and some bone marrow.

A lot has happened since my surgery and PET scan.  Thursday and Friday were nice having a break from all this doctor stuff just being able to relax.  Friday was especially nice because Taylor and I went home for the weekend to see family.  It was really good being home, minus somethings.  I got to see my brother and sister and got to go to my favorite place for food,  House of Pizza with my family and Taylor's family.  It was a really good time and I probably ate more pizza than I should of, nothing new there though. :)

Sunday Taylor and I hit the road on our back to Grand Forks, North Dakota.  My dad left shortly after and was pretty much behind us the whole drive.  Just minutes after we arrived he was here too.  We made it back in time for me to watch The Walking Dead with my suite mates, and then at 9 I treated Taylor and my dad to some Buffalo Wild Wings.  After that it was bed time.  The next day, Monday would be a busy one.

Monday morning Taylor and I both went to our first 9am classes, and then headed back to her dorm.  My appointment with the oncologist was at 11am so we had sometime.  She did some homework while I rested, and eventually my dad showed up and came and sat with us in there til it was time to go.  Everyone at the cancer center was very nice.  After checking in we didn't have to wait long.  Taylor and my Dad both came with me.  All three of us went back to this little room where I got all the questions then we waited for the doctor.  After a short wait he came in.  Dr. Gorouhi is his name.  He proceeded to asking a bunch more questions and then asked if I had seen my PET scan yet, I had not and I did want to.  He loaded it up and there were a lot of areas that had black on them.  Taylor and my Dad got scared because the brain area and bladder were black, but that didn't worry me because I thought it was just because of the high sugar use in those areas, which was exactly the case.  Taylor says that when she saw it she wanted to throw up.  Dr. Gorouhi explained that those two areas were not cancer, but the rest of the black areas were.  There were black areas in my neck, chest, and spleen.  Since it is on both sides of my diaphragm it is considered stage 3.  To find out if it is stage 4 a bone marrow bisopy had to be done, which was done this morning.  Not matter what though the treatment is the same, they are doing that basically just to know.  So right now my Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancer is Stage 3BS.  "B" because I have the systemic symptoms (fever, drenching night sweats, weight loss) and "S" because it is in the spleen.  Hopefully the bone marrow biopsy comes back negative and it stays stage 3.

After looking at the PET scan and a quick examination Dr. Gorouhi ordered various tests for the remainder of the week and set up my chemo to start on Friday.  Tomorrow, Wednesday I will be driving to Fargo to a sperm bank to get some frozen, in case the Chemotherapy treatment makes me infertile.  Hopefully that doesn't happen, however.  Thursday I will be getting a portocath inserted into my chest, which will make Chemo and all blood draws and whatever a lot easier of the next 6 months.  Instead of poking my arms and veins they will go in through this thing and it should be painless for me.  This will be another procedure that I will need a ride for.  Then on Friday I will meet with Dr. Gorouhi again before starting chemo.  We will probably go over the bone marrow biopsy results.

As for today, Tuesday, October 25th.  This morning my day started at 6am.  Waking up early to get ready for the day.  My dad was up then too.  After getting ready we sat around for an hour before heading to the Altru main clinic where I was getting a bone marrow biopsy.  When we got there and checked in I was called back real quickly and brought back to a room with a table, where I would be laying.  Some quick questions and then an I.V.  was placed.  Dr. Gorouhi took a long time to get there, apparently he went to the wrong place.. or something.  Not quite sure.  Shortly after he arrived I was flipped over onto my stomach.  My shirt was pulled up and my pants pulled down some and they placed the blue sheet thing over the area they would be working with.  My left rear hip area.  After that I was out, put to sleep.  Next thing I know I was on my back waking up and my Dad was in the room with me.  I was given 2 small cans of apple juice and 2 slices of buttered wheat toast.  After I was feeling more awake they brought in a wheel chair for me and brought me over to the hospital to get a MUGA scan, which is to check out my heart make sure it is healthy and get a baseline because some chemos can be hard on the heart.

After that my dad brought me back to my dorm, made sure I got up to my room took my box fan and we hugged good bye.  I went straight into my bed.  While I was laying in that room waiting for the doctor I just kept thinking that my life has changed so much within the last week or so, and that the next 6 months will be nothing like I expected them to be.  Life is very different right now but I am sure I will get through this and it will all be just a bad memory before we know it.  I don't really care that I will lose my hair, I will look funny sure, but it will come back.  I am very thankful for everyone around me being so kind and caring during all of this.  If there is anything I can do for any of them I would do it in a heartbeat.

Post-Surgery & a PET scan

Yesterday was my surgery.  Woke up bright and early so we could get there on time at 8:30.  When we got there we checked in and headed over to same day surgery and checked in there too.  After a bit of waiting I was called back, and Taylor was allowed back with me.  Weight was taken, and questions asked and answered.  Then the nurse told me that she doesn't know why they had me come in so early when my surgery wasn't until around noon.  She gave me a pager and said I can walk around the hospital or hangout in the waiting room, just have to be back by around 10:30.

Taylor and I decided to walk around the hospital, we went everywhere that we thought we could to kill time.  It was a long wait, but around 10:00 Taylor's mom Cindy arrived. She had insisted on coming up for it, even when Taylor said she didn't have to.  My dad would have came up too, but he had to bring my mom to a doctor's appointment that she had been canceling for quite some time.  She had to go to it.  Anyway, after Cindy arrived we headed back to same day surgery to wait.  We sat there for hours.  Cindy's aunt, who works in pathology in the hospital came by to visit. That is Taylor's great-aunt.  She seemed nice, and maybe she'll be working with my stuff, who knows. After she left we waited and waited some more, it was around 1pm I believe finally when I was called back.  Taylor came with me, while Cindy stayed back.  I got into my gown, was able to keep socks and unders on, and crawled into bed.  Then Taylor and I waited back there for a little longer while different doctors came back to talk to me. Taylor snapped a couple photos of me in my cap and gown while I was laying there waiting.  I thought I looked silly.

Looking silly

After a few more minutes someone came back and put some stuff in the IV to make me feel sleepy.  I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in recovery.  When I woke up there was a nurse there feeding me ice chips, and after a few minutes Taylor and Cindy were allowed in.  It was so good to see them. I was given water and ice cream and a popsicle. I thought the ice cream tasted funny so I didn't finish it, plus it hurt to swallow.  Eventually I was allowed to get up and go.  By the time we were out of there it was passed 5pm. Cindy drove, and we left the explorer at the hospital, where it still is --we will get it later tonight with the help of my friend Eric.  We went to Walmart and they got me some protein powder, some soup, and some popsicles.  Then we headed back to our dorms and dropped stuff off and had dinner.  After dinner they walked me back to my dorm where I sat until bed.

Over night I woke up every few hours to pee, I had a lot of water after the surgery since I wasn't allowed to drink any before.  Eventually I woke up for good.  I wanted to shower, but I'm not allowed to until Thursday. When I had gotten ready for the day I still had a little over an hour to wait before heading to the Altru Cancer Center for my PET scan. When I got in there I checked in and was pointed downstairs where I checked in there.  Very quickly after I got there someone came out to get me.  I was brought back to a small room where another IV was put in so she could put in the radioactive glucose into my veins.  IV was pulled out and warm blankets were placed on me and door was shut with lights out where I would sit quietly with as little movement as possible for the next hour.  It was really relaxing in there with the blankets on me.  I didn't actually fall asleep, but I was right on the edge in a sort of dream like state, but aware of what was going on hearing peoples voices outside the room and whatnot.  After that hour was up she came back to get me and brought me to the room with the scanner.  A couple quick goes through for CT scans, and then one longer 20-30 minute PET scan.  After that I was able to leave.  I grabbed a cookie on my way out.  Cindy drove me to and from my PET scan and took off after she dropped me off.  I really appreciate her coming up here for me.  My dad does too.  She was a lot of help, and I hope took some stress off Taylor.

I missed a test in Microbiology because of this PET scan, but I talked to the teacher on Monday about everything and can make it up on a later date.  That's the news up til now, until next time.  Take care.

UPDATE: Bandage is off, here's the stitches.

My stitches

The last couple of days..

After going to the Urgent Care at the Altru Hospital here in Grand Forks I was referred to a E.N.T. doctor.  (Ear Nose & Throat).

Morning after my urgent care appointment I called up the number that I was given and to my surprise I was able to get an appointment the next morning, that was October 14th.  When the day came I went into the main clinic entrance, but had no idea where I was going so I asked the lady at the desk.  4D is where I was instructed to go, fourth floor room D.

Entering 4D I walked up to the registration desk and announced that I had an appointment, got signed in and was told to sit down.  Waiting for the doctor each of these times just seems like the longest thing ever.  Eventually one of the nurses called my name, brought me back to the room and went through the questions before the doctor.  Nothing out of really out of the ordinary. Nurse leaves and again I sit and wait.  A little while later the doctor came in, Dr. Alan Johnson.  After a few questions he checked out the lumps on my neck, finding each one that I had found myself.  I was a little relieved that he didn't find anymore than I had, but then we started talking about what it could be.  Lymphoma was his biggest concern, and was something that I looked up a few times.  Hearing him say it was a lot different than just my own little research.

I was sent to get a CT scan of my neck. When I got to radiology the lady sitting behind the desk was expecting me. Originally the radiology department had said that there wasn't an availability during that day, but Dr. Johnson gave them a call and got them to do it same day. I was instructed to follow these set of tiles to a small room where I waited for them to get the room ready.  Sat in that room for a bit and eventually someone came to get me.  I laid down and an I.V. was inserted into my arm and I was put in to the machine. After a couple pictures the iodine was injected and the rest of the photos were taken.

After this I wait the weekend to go in and get some results.  It was a long weekend, but I got to spend it with Taylor and she helped keep my mind off all that stuff.

Finally today, Monday came.  Woke up bright and early and drove over there.  My appointment for today was at 8am. After I got there I went up to 4D and signed in and waited.  So much waiting.  The nurse came out and brought me back for the quick before-doc-questions.  This time my weight was asked, but I didn't have an answer because I don't own a scale.  She just weighed me and entered it in.  My weight was down from normal, which had not occurred to my knowledge yet.  Dr. Johnson finally comes in and we go through my CT scan from Friday.  Apparently there is a lump in my chest too, sort of pushing on my trachea.  Which explains a little bit of shortness of breath every now and then.  He also noticed that I have a deviated septum, but I knew of that sort of already.  (I knew my nose was crooked inside).  I had another CT scan originally for 3PM today, but that was canceled and a PET scan was ordered. A needle biopsy was done, and I was also scheduled for surgery for a lymph node biopsy.

The surgery is tomorrow, I will go in at 8:30AM and be there for 4-5 hours is what I was told.  (Surgery time ~ 1 hour).  I've never had a surgery before, or been knocked out by anesthesia, so I am worried about it.  I am also worried, but anxious to find out what exactly the problem is...

Time to get some rest, big day tomorrow.

Waiting... (mobile!)

Someone came and drew blood from me and I have been alone since. I was told that I would see a surgeon to get a piece of my lymph node to see what the problem is. Maybe soon this will all be figured out?

Taylor, my girlfriend, is out in the waiting room and has been since we got here. I feel really bad because she is sitting out there all alone. At least she brought some homework with her though for something to so.

It was so nice of her to come with me, and yesterday too when we tried to get me into the VA in Fargo. (Turns out I couldn't!) She is so kind, will be there for me when ever I need her. I love spending time with her, and always want to be around here, even when she doesn't want to be around me! Hah!

It's Thursday.

It's Thursday, and that can only mean one thing, and that one thing is Wings! 60 cent boneless wings.  Hot BBQ boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings are one of my favorite foods.  This is, without a doubt, my favorite flavor.  Not a big fan of the Buffalo flavor, so these have a good heat and a great flavor to boot!












Another thing on Thursday's is tacos over at Terrace dining center, they weren't bad today.  They also had this. "Lavosh" pepperoni pizza.  This lavosh is kind of a weird thing.  I never heard of it before coming here.  It's basically a cracker, with some pizza toppings on it.  This slice is unhappy as I am that there is no sauce on it at all.

Now the rest of my night should be with my nose in one of these two books.  

Oreooo

What is this?
 I saw these things on the TV the other day, and soon after I purchased a pack.  Triple Oreo, that is like 2 cookies in one.

Although these are good, I would prefer to get some regular double stuffed, Halloween style.  For the orange creme filling.  I'm a fan of Halloween themed things.

Here we go...

So my girlfriend started doing this and it sounded like a neat idea so I thought I'd give it a try too.
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9/13/11

Right side lymph node

Went to the Campus Dr. again today and it was pretty much the same visit as the last two.  Some quick questions, followed by a blood test with a negative result on Mono.  Whatever it is it's something viral, and not a bacteria or anything.  The lymph nodes on my neck are swelled up pretty large in two locations,

Under Right Ear.
Left Clavicle.


They are uncomfortable and just plain annoying.


Guess in two weeks I'll go back and she will test for mono again, and it will probably come back negative.

Wonder when it's time to test for something else..