06/21/2012
I slept very well because of the Cough Syrup the internist had prescribed me the day before.
I headed over to the hospital for my appointment. I stopped by the Quest Diagnostics lab that was on the same floor as my Doctor’s office and I had my blood drawn for the previous day’s bloodwork. I then went and saw my internist again. I was in the examination room when he walked in and told me that the XRays came back abnormal. Dr. Yager said that there was a good chance that I have Lymphoma. He said it was a cancer, and that if I wanted to have any cancer, this was the cancer to have as it’s prognosis was good and very treatable. He said that he would just have to get some more test to put together a full way on how to treat it. He said that the XRay of my chest showed that my lymph nodes in my chest were enlarged and that they were pushing on my breathing tubes with one closed over 50% by being pushed on by the growing lymph node. He found a growing lymph on the left side of my neck and said that they could biopsy that one and not have to attempt to biopsy the ones in my chest. He would just have to get a surgeon. Since it was on my neck he would like to have an ear nose and throat specialist. I mentioned the name of my doctor who took my tonsils out when I was a kid, took my wife’s tonsils out a little over 2 years ago, and just took my mother’s thyroid out over 2 months ago. He said that since I already knew him, that he would use him for the biopsy. I blew a 240 on the peak flow meter.
The internist then saw me in his office and called an oncologist to let him know that he had another lymphoma case, the third one in the past 2 months. He then gave me a paper for additional bloodwork and gave me orders to go have a CT scan of my throat and chest. I went and visited the same Quest Diagnostic Lab and had my blood drawn by the same nurse who withdrew it just a little over an hour before. The internist office said they would call me once the CT scan was setup and ready to go.
I went and picked up my wife and told her the diagnosis. I also told my Dad and Mom who called not long after I got home. The intern office called me saying that the Imaging office was ready for me to do the CT scan. My wife then brought me over to the Imaging place to have the CT Scan done.
We arrived at Imaging Center and I was given additional paperwork to fill out for the CT Scan. One was for the CT Scan of my neck, the other was for the CT Scan of my chest. The tech called my name in the waiting room, I went to the back and she was going over everything they were going to do. I was going to lay on my back and then she was going to start the scan and the bed would move me through the machine. She said that and IV would be used to pump Iodine into my system to help with the Xray. She said that I may get a metal taste in my mouth, or my jaw may feel warm and that the inside of my body may feel warm when the drip started. If I felt it hard to breath or a heaviness in my chest it meant that I was having a allergic reaction and I should let them know right away so that they could stop the IV and hit me with an epi pen to stop the reaction. Once all this was explained she then tried to start an IV in my right arm, but that didn’t work, so she then started the IV in my left anticube area. She said that she would do scan first without any Iodine, so she left the room and told me to swallow and not to swallow again and had the machine take the first CT scan of my neck and my chest. She then came back into the room and started the IV drip for the next CT Scan. She said to swallow and then don’t swallow until the neck scan was done. Then she said put my hands above my head and the Doctor said take a deep breath and hold it. Then my chest was scanned and that was it CT Scan completed. She told me to drink plenty of water so that I could pass the iodine out my system. The more water I drink the better. She told me that her daughter in law had lymphoma as well and had been in remission for over 6 years now. She wished me luck and on my way.
I then went over to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor whom I had not seen for myself in over 2 decades. My mother who just had her thyroidectomy called the office and had them fit me in. I filled out the new patient paperwork and then waited in the waiting room, then got transferred to a second waiting room. I then was seated in the patient room and had my temperature and blood pressure taken by the nurse. I then got to see the Dr. He felt my neck and said that the lymphnode was a good size and that he would have no problem taking a biopsy of it. He said it was about 4 – 6 cm and about 3 cm large. He said that he would just have to cut around some muscle, but the excision of a piece of the left jugular lymph could be done. He said that he would take a good enough size to do a full thorough biopsy on and that a simple needle biopsy would not be enough for a great thorough result. He did a full examination checking my nose, ears, and mouth/throat. He said that he would like to get the procedure setup for the following week, and then lead me to the checkout counter and told me to wait there while he talked to his wife the surgery scheduler.
My wife and I then met with his wife in her office who had scheduled the surgery for the following Wednesday, 06/27/2012 at 5pm. She said that I needed another round of bloodwork from my doctor for the anesthesiologist to clear me for surgery. I also needed an EKG and a letter of clearance from my intern. I then gave the lady the back number for my internist and she told them exactly what she needed and faxed them the information too. The intern office also spoke to me on the phone saying that I had an appointment the following day for 2pm to take care of this additional work that had to be done. I was then scheduled the following Monday for 11:50 to go back to the Ear Nose and Throat Doctor for a preop, and said that I should visit the preop with the hospital right after with all the paperwork for admit. I then paid my copay and head home for the day. My parents and I had planned to go eat Indian food the day before, and we stuck to our plans to go out to eat an Indian Buffet with my parents and wife that night. However after such a long day and everything that was revealed to me, I ate and found the food delicious just couldn’t eat as much as I normally wood.
After I got home, I laid in bed as usually and had my computer in bed as usual, just this time instead of doing work, I googled everything and anything I could on the Lymphoma battle I had ahead of me.
