April 28, 2010

I’m writing this so that everyone can follow my recent experiences and easily see the timeline that I’ve gone through. If there is any specific questions that you have, don’t hesitate to post them and I’ll answer them for everyone to see.

As most of you already know, I always keep a positive mental attitude about everything, and my health is no different.

“Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer.” ~Author Unknown

1. When Amy & I returned from Maui in December of 2009
a. I had Spleen surgery to remove because it was full of cancer.
b. A normal spleen is the size of a baseball, mine had grown to the size of a football
c. I faced major post-surgery recovery, woke up in the ICU, and spent 8 days in the hospital total

2. Six weeks go by…

3. Go to scheduled appt with Dr. Al-Katib (oncologist).
a. Tell him about shortness of breath, coughing and fatigue
b. He takes chest x-rays and ct scans.

4. After reading test results, he admits me to the hospital the same day.
a. I have infiltrations in both lungs that looks like pneumonia on the chest films.
b. I also have a 4cmx4cm mass in my lower right lung.
Teams from Oncology, Thoracic Surgery, Pulmonary and Infectious Disease scratch their heads and run test after test to determine what it is I have.

5. Presented with several options, I choose to have the mass in my right lung biopsied.
a. This is an “open” procedure so it’s an actual surgery.
b. My total hospital stay was another eight days. (Late February).
c. Lung biopsy results prove the infiltration and mass are all Hodgkin’s Disease, which almost NEVER goes into the lungs like this. Lucky me. LOL!

6. I restart chemo on 03/15/10.
a. After two weeks, I finish with Round #1 of the new chemo regimen.
b. After standard blood testing, it is discovered that my white blood counts are alarmingly low, in fact they were essentially zero.

7. Three weeks later, with a compromised immune system, I’m rushed to the Emergency Room in full respiratory distress. (Early April)

8. After several days with no diagnosis, I’m placed on a respirator because my lungs are becoming too weak to breathe on their own.

9. Amy and I say “Goodbye” to each other not knowing how my situation will turn out.

10. While on a respirator, after a full week of treating what appeared to be bacterial pneumonia, it is discovered that I actually have a fungal pneumonia, a rare, often deadly and very aggressive affliction.
a. In addition, I also had a significant bacterial infection of the bladder.

11. Adjustments to antifungals are made in my medications.
a. I make a full recovery and five days later I’m discharged from the hospital. (Late April)