Radiation Oncology Appointment & Some Other Things

On Tuesday March 10, I went to the clinic in the morning so they could check my blood counts. In the afternoon I saw a Radiation Oncologist - Dr. Ziaja. She was a very upbeat and positive person and I enjoyed meeting her. She told me that lymphoma follows a pattern in the body and that we would radiate only the areas that have been affected. On me this would mean my right axilla (armpit), right neck, and right superior mediastinum...my what? My mediastinum:

This is not my scan - found it on google images

I had no idea about my mediastinum; what was she talking about? She showed me the area on my chest. I was a bit confused as no one had mentioned this area to me before, but thought I would check with Dr. Howard about it. Dr. Ziaja continued on with the side effects:

-My thyroid is in the way of the neck, so it could be destroyed
and I would have to go on pills for the rest of my life.

-The armpit is close to my breast so I would have a small chance of getting
breast cancer in the next 10 years.

-The mediastinum is close to the lungs so I have a small chance of getting
lung cancer in the next 10 years.

-My esophagus would be sore due to the radiation but that would only be temporary.

I wasn't at all comfortable with these risks, no matter how small. There was already a history of lung and breast cancer in my family and I didn't want to have to go thru either of them - especially in 10 years. I thought of it like this: In 10 years I'll get another cancer, have to have more radiation so in another 10 years more cancer and more radiation and basically have cancer every 10 years for the rest of my life. I decided I would talk to Dr. Howard about my concerns.

On Friday March 13th we took the twins to their K4 screening and they passed with flying colors. They were screened by Skye's K4 teacher so she was already familiar with them. Afterwards we took them home and then off to the clinic for chemo.

At the clinic they took my blood and my counts were low. Dr. Howard told them to give me the chemo anyway and to put me on Neupogen shots. These shots boost the amount of bone marrow production, thus boosting the cell counts. I would not be on two shots - Arixtra in the belling and Neupogen on the arm. Neupogen was another pretty $75 co-pay.

I didn't tolerate this chemo quite as well as the first. I was exhausted and feeling pretty sick that first day, probably due to my low cell count. The rest of the days seemed to be the same as last time with a little more intensity.

On Wednesday March 18th I had another ultrasound and the clot was gone!!!!! Finally I could stop the Arixtra shots and go on a pill!