Specialists, Tests, and Warm Weather

Yesterday I met with a lymphoma specialist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute to schedule all of my appointments for next week. We also met with another doctor, which I think will be my main man for the rest of this whole thing. They were so sweet to schedule all of my tests on this coming Monday (Christmas Eve's Eve) and I'm glad to get it all done as soon as possible so we can start getting some results back but they are also making me fast for it all! So let me break that down for you...

Monday morning, first thing I have is a Pulmonary Function Test, PFT, which seems easy enough. All I have to do is breathe in and out of this tube, normally, as hard as I can, just a bunch of breathing tests to see the capacity of my lungs and how well they are functioning. Next is an echocardiogram. This one is easy too, all I do is lay on a table while they hook up all these things onto me and monitor my heart. Then I have a Bone Marrow Biopsy which is the only test they'll do that actually involves needles or any sort of pain, luckily. What they'll do is stick a huge needle down into my bone and take out a portion of my bone marrow (which is a spongy tissue inside your bones) to check for abnormal cells and to see how far the cancer has spread. Finally I'll have a PET/CT scan to finish of the day. For this they'll inject me with a radioactive substance (creepy) and make me wait until it gets throughout my body. After that happens, they'll lay me on a table and send me into this little tube where I'll have to lay still for about 30 minutes. This test is used to see what organs of the body have been affected by the cancer. Keep in mind that I have to fast for all of that! Talk about a long hangry day. (hangry = hungry + angry)

Then Tuesday morning we're right back at it for surgery to remove one of these lymph nodes! Fasting again for this one but hopefully it won't be for too long. The nurse said I'm first on the list for surgeries that day, so hopefully I'll be able to get going around 7 or 8 AM. They'll do anesthesia, knock me out, take me back and cut out one of the lymph nodes in my neck, stitch me back up and send me home! This is to determine exactly what kind of cancer it is, (there are over 70 different types of lymphoma) and what stage it's in. The results won't be back for about a week because of the holidays so that won't be fun, but honestly I''m so impressed by how quickly all the doctors have been! 

Then we've got christmas day, (finally some good news right?!) and them I'm off to LA the 28th-31st! I made an appointment to take a campus tour of FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) a couple weeks back, before this whole cancer mess took place, and the timing couldn't be better for a mini vacation! Even if I love the school I probably won't end up attending until 2015 because of chemo and everything but it will still be cool to go check it out and see if it's something I really am interested in. Honestly I'm just excited for some sunshine and warm weather!