Month: January 2008

  • Round 3 – Cancer of the Lung

    It took me a couple days to get over this shocking news.
    I wasn’t even completely out of shock when my condition worsened.

    I was at Princess Margaret Hospital doing a CT scan so they could plan radiation treatment when after the scan I blacked out. After reviewing the scan it was discovered that there was liquid surrounding my heart not allowing it to completely pump. I was immediately sent to emergency and admitted into the ICU. My heart rate was around 130-140bpm and when I coughed I would almost black out.

    That night they removed the liquid from the heart. Radiation began the next day and Kemo a week later. If the liquid was not removed my heart would have stopped within a week.

    Scary…

    2 weeks later and i’m discharged from the hospital continuing with radiation and kemo as an outpatient. This battle is far from over.

    So 29 years of age, I have lung cancer.

    Over 100375 cigarettes smoked in the past 11 years.

    If you are reading this and do smoke take this moment to save yourself this unfortunate fate.

  • Another 38 Days Later

    Yes. It was the most disheartening feeling learning I had to be re-admitted to the hospital again for an extended period of time.

    A cat scan of my chest in November showed that the liquid effusion had returned and a lymph node was swelling and the size of an orange pushing against a major vein leading to my head.

    Due to this ‘orange’ i was told to not sleep completely flat. Also when I cough my entire face would go red with veins popping out and I would feel like i’m about to black out and get dizzy.

    - 8 doctors
    - 3 biopsies
    - 3 2nd opinions
    - 2 hospitals
    - 1 university
    - 1 surgery
    - 1 more scar

    All that and 6 weeks in the hospital finally produced a reason why my body relapsed into effusion again. The Cancer word was thrown around again in the 1st couple weeks as there was some unusual samples taken. That was finally ruled out. Apparently I had a inflammatory reaction to the TB medications. We are waiting for one final pathology report to return and I will start a steroids treatment to get rid of the inflammation in my body.

    I’ve been cleared from being infectious so I’m no longer in isolation.

    The hospital i stayed at was the new one in B town. Its so new that guess what? NO TVs
    The food got even worse. It was so bad I couldn’t eat it.
    Because of the lack of movement my legs look like a fob girl’s chicken legs.

    I feel so drained from the 2nd hospital stay I’m just summarizing my bitter experience.
    Family members would call and pray for me. There were times that you feel so weak that you need some sort of support from somewhere. I’m not religious but I do believe there is a higher power out there. I didn’t pray for myself but I prayed for the others i saw in the hospital because I think they needed more help than I did.

    I was finally released from the hospital on NYE. I’m so happy to be home.

    Thank you to everyone for all the support you’ve given me during these times. It really means a lot to me.

    The road to recovery continues…