I have not posted here in quite a while because there has been so much going on that things have been changing so fast that I hesitated to post.
Let's see if I can catch everyone up. I had two appointments scheduled for March 6, the first with a pulmonary oncologist to follow up on the Cyberknife treatment that was done in October to make sure all the cancer was killed, and the other with my hematology oncologist to see whether I had started responding to the multiple myeloma treatment.
I figured I would sail through the pulmonary doctor appointment and possibly be told I was not responding to the myeloma treatment in the second.
Well, my world changed drastically when I saw the pulmonary doctor. His name starts with an R but I don't know how to spell his name so I will refer to him as simply Dr. R. He told me that the cancer in my lung was back and that I needed surgery to remove one lobe of my lung. He scheduled me to see a cardiologist the next day to make sure my heart is strong enough for the surgery.
This was brought about because I have been having some chest pains since I started the chemo and since my father died of a heart attack at age 58 and my sister died of a heart attack at age 51 they wanted to make sure it was not my heart. Two tests later I was told that my heart is fine.
Then I went to Dr. Yuen, the hematology oncologist, in the afternoon. She told me that I am responding to the treatments and that if it weren't for the lung problem and the fact that I have an enlarged spleen and excess protein in my blood that I would be ready to start the process for transplant. Yeah, almost.
She ordered an ultrasound of my liver and spleen (although I told her I have had an enlarged spleen for years but no doctor had been concerned enough about it to do any further testing). She also ordered a big blood test (they drew 7 vials of blood on the 6th.)
Anyway, Dr. R had me scheduled to see a thoracic surgeon and him again on March 13 to see if they were going to approve and schedule me for surgery. When I went in for that appointment I was told that they had decided that it was not lung cancer, that it was probably some light scar tissue from the radiation that I had received. PRAISE THE LORD FOR ANSWERED PRAYER!!!!!!!
I am scheduled to go back for another CT on May 6 and see Dr. R on May 15.
In the meantime Dr. Yuen is trying to figure out the spleen problem and the protein in the blood. She is going to do a bone marrow draw this next week to do some further testing and will get me started back on my chemo shots so I don't loose where we are toward remission while we wait. They cannot get me schedules for the transplant before that so now, we play the waiting game again.
So now you are caught up.
As always I appreciate all your prayers and good thoughts. Don't forget, I do also appreciate hearing from you by phone (918-284-9117) or email at jeanclarkcancer@gmail.com.
Love to all,
Jean
