Medi-Port Insertion

Tuesday I spent the afternoon at Methodist Hospital getting my medi-port inserted into my chest. Most of the time was spent waiting for a surgery room to open up. Once it did, I was in and out in 30 minutes...so I'm told. I was knocked out with whatever wonderful drugs they gave me so I didn't have to do the biting the stick routine again. I was home and catching up on work by 7:00pm. I credit Dr. Joe Johnston for a superb job.

Wednesday was spent with half of my chest quite sore and shaved, but it's worth it because this will make things much easier when I get chemo. The IV will just be plugged into my medi-port which in turn is already connected to a large vein. The port is actually just beneath my skin and the area will be numbed before I get hooked up during chemotherapy.

Getting Started

First off, let me thank everyone that has offered help to me and Christine. Honestly, I don't even know what to ask for right now, but I am sure things will crop up and I am extremely thankful for the outpouring of support thus far. Everything is moving extremely fast right now, which is mostly a blessing because the quicker I can get treatment the quicker I can get better. At the same time life has been warped into a hectic pace and we are still adjusting. We think the easiest method of giving everyone updates will be right here instead of tying up the phone for hours on end anytime there is new info.

The initial diagnosis is stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which means I have more than one swollen lymphnode in me. The ones I know about are two in my neck and two in my chest. The pathology report from my biopsy isn't fully complete yet, so there is a small possibility that it could change, but that isn't likely. For those who don't know much about Hodgkin's Disease click here. This is what I will be going up against for at least the next six months.

As of Tuesday, March 20th I had an oncologist. Dr. Amy Lang (more info) will be leading me through my treatment at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (more info), which will be 12 rounds of chemotherapy (more info) beginning Thursday, April 5th and lasting for the next six months.

On Friday, March 23rd I had a PET scan (more info) which should show where else the cancer is in me. Also, I have already had a bone marrow biopsy to help nail down the stage and results from that should be back within two weeks. I will also be having a Port-a-Cath (more info) inserted into my chest on Tuesday, March 27th to make it easier to hook-up with the chemo IV over the next six months.

The good news is that so far I haven't experienced any of the other symptoms such as fevers, weight loss, fatigue, or night sweats. Hopefully it will stay that way until I get my first round of chemotherapy which I am told will immediately begin to shrink my swollen lymphnodes and take away my itchiness.

That's everything for now. I'm sure I forgot something though and Christine will remind me and I'll have to update this post again!