What the hell is that thing?

(Sometime in February)



Some of you know the story, most of you probably dont....so let me just quickly give you a recap as to how all of this went down. And before I forget, trust me, if you notice ANYTHING weird on yourself (lump, mole, long-term aches, etc...) talk to a Doctor!!! Yea, my bro busts my balls cause I whine about every little ache/pain, but it paid off this time.

From late February - So...I'm at work, in the bathroom (go figure) admiring my fine self in the mirror as I'm washing my hands. As I turn my head to the right to make sure all my hairs are nicely placed, I notice a lump on left side of my neck. Thought nothin' of it at the time, figured it was just a cist. If it weren't for a follow up Doctor's appointment I had later in the week, honestly, this would've gone untreated. I show up to my Dr's appt, do the normal thing.....ya know, voluntary hernia checks (cough, cough), haha. Right at the end of the appt I have my Dr check my neck. He quickly prescribes an antibiotic and sends me on my way.

10 days go by and the antibiotic Rx has been completed. I noticed the swelling in my neck had gone down, but not completely. I call my doctor, tell him the situation.....he then orders that I see an ENT specialist. The next week I meet with Dr. Rezzae (definately an ENT specialist I recommend) who informs me that this is a swollen lymph node.....he then simply mentions the term Lymphoma (at this point, I've already soiled my jeans and can feel the sweat pouring from my armpits - not good for a Greek male, or female for that matter!.....sorry mom, aunt sandy, aunt helen, sof, stacie, etc....). Dr Rezzae orders a CAT scan as I leave. I soon rush to my car, get on the phone with my mom and cried like I used to when mom took me grocery shopping as a kid (seriously mom, those Saturday mornings were torture).....I truly thought I had cancer at that point, but I always over analyze, so there was still hope.

A week goes by, the CAT scan is done, I've rescheduled another appt with Dr Rezzae to review the results. I make my way to his office Downtown, we discuss the CAT scan to where he informs me that I have a few lymph nodes swollen in the neck, and one in the chest (which was larger than those in the neck). This was cause for concern, so he administered a Fine Needle Aspiration to extract some cells from the lymph node in my neck. Waiting for those results was undoubtly the longest week of my life......everytime that phone rang I felt like it was my "Seven Days" call from the movie "The Ring". Lone behold, the results came back NEGATIVE.......oh, what a huge weight off my shoulders. "However", the doctor says, "since we found another node in your chest....we'll need to take a full biopsy on the nodes in your neck". I'm thinking "Oh, come on man....are you serious? Get me outta this mess! When does it end?"

The following Monday was the date of my full biopsy. I was actually pretty calm, especially for the first time for me being admitted into a Hospital. Woke up at 445am for the first surgery of the day, wasn't admitted until 645, hit the OR at 715 and I guess the procedure started at 8am and took roughly an hour. Tell ya this much, I thought I woulda been able to fight off the anesthetic......I mean, I've always been able to control myself under other types of drugs (just kidding mom), but seriously, I was AMAZED how quickly that put me out! I woke up to a random nurse playin with my neck in post-op. I was rolled to a new area in post-op and was taken care of by Rose Bushko......a middle aged nurse who graduated from St Joes, currently lives in Westlake and has no kids (I think the drugs turned me into McCann......I had the need to make random small talk with random people. Well, I'm sure she was amused).

Again, I needed to play the waiting game.......I wasn't going to hear back from the Doc until Friday with "real" results, so I now had a new Longest Week of my life. Friday morning came, I heard from the Dr just after my training meeting at work and frankly I could tell in his voice right off the bat that this wasn't going to be a good call. Lone behold, the Ms Cleo in me took over......Doc told me the lymph nodes he extracted had tested positive for Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Needless to say, I was in shock. However, through this entire process I was preparing for the worst, so I wasn't completely suprised. It didnt really hit me until I got off the phone with my Doctor, called my mom and told her "Mom, I have cancer". Talk about a reality check! 28 yr olds in the prime of their life aren't supposed to have CANCER!