It has now been over 574 days,19 months, since we started the battle with the big "C" - Cancer. I say we because when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is affected.
We were living our lives like everyone else, working, grocery shopping, running errands, mowing the yard, you name it, normal. It was late February, I remember Lin coming from the bathroom saying that she had blood in her urine. She went in to see the doctor the following day.
The doctor ordered tests and also referred her to a Urologist. The urologists ordered more tests. The Urologist recommend a cystoscopy. A cystoscope is a slender tube with a lens and a light. It is placed into the bladder through the urethra. It permits the doctor to view the inside of the bladder. A suspicious growth was found in her ureter, a small piece of tissue was removed and examined (biopsy).
The Urologist let us know that cancer was present and our lives changed. March 5, 2007, Lin was admitted to the hospital. Surgery is the primary treatment option for cancer of the ureter. The tumor was located and the surgeons removed that section of the ureter. The rest was reconnected to the bladder. This procedure is called a ureteroneocystomy, or reimplantation.
She was told that it was Grade 3, Stage 1 cancer. High-grade (3-4) cancers look less like normal tissue. They are more likely to invade the bladder wall and to spread outside the bladder and tend to be associated with a less favorable prognosis. Stage I - In stage I, cancer has formed and spread to the layer of tissue under the inner lining of the bladder. We caught it early enough, we could do something about it.
Recovery was hard. I will not pretty this up. The pain medication prescribed was morphine. This Opioid has many side effects. The most dangerous is respiratory depression including nausea and vomiting alterations of mood (nervousness, apprehension, depression, floating feelings), dreams, muscle rigidity, transient hallucinations and disorientation, visual disturbances, insomnia.
If you see the side effect listed, Lin experienced it. The disorientation and hallucinations seemed real to her and frustrating to me and her family as we could do nothing to help her work through the pain. After 5 days in the hospital, she would have paid handsomely to get let out. Day 6, she finally came home.
Post surgery she was started on intravesical chemotherapy, anticancer drugs that are placed in the bladder through a catheter. The anticancer agents remain in the bladder for 1-2 hours and have little toxicity throughout the body. Treatment was scheduled for once a week for 6 weeks. She received BCG, a type of biologic therapy which boosts the body's immune system to fight the tumor.
She was told she could go back to her "normal" life within 8 weeks. Funny - Ha, ha!! What a joke.
At the three month period, she underwent another cystoscopy and additionally an Intravenous pyelogram (IVP): In this procedure, also known as intravenous urography an x-ray is taken after injecting a dye through a vein into the bloodstream. This dye reaches the kidneys, ureters, and bladder and more clearly outlines these organs on x-rays. Another two tumors had formed in her bladder. Another surgery followed by chemotherapy. This time chemotherapy was to last only three weeks.
Again she was told she could return to her "normal" activities. These guys are comedians! Three months later, you guessed it, it happened again.
This continued for 3 additional surgeries.
This now brings us to present day.
We had planned a vacation as far back as February 08 for July, we needed something to help us to look forward in the future. Lin felt well enough so we decided that the vacation was on. We left for Maine and Nova Scotia on July 26 and were not to return until August 9th. What a great time we had spending time together. My sister Marti went along with us and we really enjoyed our time in Canada. Lin's sister-in-law Trudy and her three sons, Alex, Chris and Spencer, all joined us in Trenton Maine. We were staying with a friend and her daughter in their summer home. Lin, Marti, my sister, Alex and I traveled to Portland where we enjoyed site seeing and fishing for lobster.
Lin complained during the trip that her back hurt. We wrote it off to bad stiff mattresses as we had spent the night in at least five different beds.
When we returned home to our plush bed, the back ache continued.
She underwent another cystoscpy, the Urologist, Dr. Shawn Malloney, gave us the "all clear". No cancer! We were elated; what a way to end our vacation!
She went to our GP, Pamela Garcia, M.D. (the best damned doctor in Austin, TX). Dr. Garcia thought it may be related to scoliosis, an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. However, she also noted a bump on her back.
In the interim I had to travel for work. I got my sister to come stay with Lin, much against her will. Before my sister could arrive, Lin was forced to call our friend Allison to take her to the emergency room, due to pain. She was referred to an Oncologist.
I had only been gone three days, when I got the call from my sister, Lin was back in the emergency room. She went to meet with Oncologist, Dr. Kocs (pronounced "cause"). The cancer had metastasized.
The cancer is now in her lymph nodes in between her chest cavity and her spinal column, her lungs and her vertebra, bone. She has a fractured bone in her vertebra and the tumor in her lymph node is putting pressure against her spinal column causing it to compress, thus the back ache.
She was diagnosed with Stage 3 Phase IV.
She immediately started radiation treatment September 12th.
