February 14th – up to today has been anything but NORMAL.. this will be long… if you plan to read you might want to get popcorn and snacks😀. I have to say I’m going to publish as I go

 

 

 

 

Since February 14th, life has changed so much that within 2 weeks, there has been a huge lifestyle change. To those on Facebook, there have been some updates and also the unavailability/ability to update my Blog…. so, here we go, yes this will be long…..

Tuesday, February 14,2017

Appointment at 7:15am for a Echocardiogram to check my heart, ❤️Valentines Day❤.  Today, because of the early appointment I decided that I would drive to the appointment myself, as I had decided to give up my car insurance and sell my car at this time. Had test and headed home.  By the time I got home I was struggling with some shortness of breath and just not feeling wonderful. By the time I got up our 15 stairs I was taking deep breaths, my ankles were also swelling, especially the left and it was hard to put pressure on my heel … But I still needed to go to my Radiation treatment at 5pm.  My intention was to have Tiffany drop me off at the CLBC office in Richmond as Michele was driving me to my treatment, so that Tiffany, Jake and Luca could go out for a much needed Valentines dinner.  I was going to do some work, see some staff that I used to work with, and have a late lunch and then off we would go to my appointment.  I had to change that up and stay in bed all day until it was time to go… Back to bed immediately upon returning home.  Tiffany, Jake and Luca gave me these precious gifts for Valentines Day

 

On this day I had intended to post this for Valentines Day:

Today I want to give a huge acknowledgement to Community Living BC where I worked previously to retiring and was working part time ( 3 days/week) since August of 2015. There was a position posted for part time work at CLBC Head Office working with Julie Iuvancigh in The Learning Centre. When I saw the job posted all I thought was “That’s my ideal job posted”…I was actually working some part time hours for Reitmans as I was a regular shopper in the store so I asked about part time work and was fortunate enough to be hired… wow, one of the hardest jobs I had done, you see I had never worked in the Retail world and I was 57 years old. I tip my hat 🎩 to retail workers – you rock and is definitely not my kind of work.   Ok, back to CLBC:

Since my diagnosis in December we decided I would take time off to take care of me.  I had a project that I was working on and almost finished so I did have the ability to do the work from home depending how I was feeling.. ok,proud to say I finished that project and felt a huge personal accomplishment.  Thank you Julie.  Since then I have been receiving random envelopes in the mail from CLBC with hearts that contain messages from staff from around the province.  I was told… Keep checking, you just never know when Cupid may strike.  When the mail came each day I was excited to see if Tiffany brought me an envelope from CLBC.

The Heart picture above truly touches my heart and fills me completely. We decided to put them up on my bedroom wall in the shape of a heart of course. I can look at them while resting. Thank you CLBC and if you happen to see a heart that is unsigned and it’s yours let me know.

Ta ta for now..til next update, probably a few hours 😍❤️💋💖

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As time goes by….Happy Family Day Weekend.🏡 👪 👵🏻 🐱🐱

Since my last update of just a few days ago  I had another radiation treatment on the brain on Friday, Feb. 10th, 2017…. and then have had 3 days off as Monday is a Provincial holiday in honour of a Family Day.

It almost feels that this is turning into a daily journal for me, but it helps with my journey of this…… I’m also liking pictures so bear with me you’ll be seeing more of them… 😍

Again, the amount of notes, messages, cards, etc have continued to warm my heart regularly and so THANK YOU…. 💋  And again, sometimes I think I’m writing too much, but really what is too much, when one is talking about day to day life.  If you lose interest no problemo.

So, staying with a Family Day Weekend theme… here is some feel good things I have managed to do this weekend. I have a fair amount of blood relatives but reality is we are all spread out in places going from Richmond, Surrey, Langley, Coquitlam, Victoria, Kamloops, Calgary, Eastern Canada, England, and Scotland…. but the amount of friend families we have is incredible, as I’m sure many of you will relate to.

Well, Friday, February  10th: was a Radiation treatment day for me.  Appointment was 3:20 pm, and thank you to Michele for being my driver/date to appointment.  After the treatment  we were able to go out and spend some time and have dinner together, it was a nice treat and enjoyed my time out with Michele.

Saturday, February 11th, 2017:  Heather and Pat came over and took me out for lunch. These 2 ladies I have known most of my life ( I was 10 years old when I met Heather, and we have basically been best friends for 47 years 😍. Pat is Heathers older sister but  to me she turned out up be a wonderful close friend.  We had a great lunch together, I also managed to even sneak in about 1 hour at the casino with them.  However 3 hours seemed to hit the maximum for me and I needed to get home.  Spent the rest of the day and night in bed, other than getting up to take medications and Tiffany made me a sandwich so that I wouldn’t get an upset stomach. Overall great afternoon though. Here is a lovely pic of us

 

And they brought me this absolutely beautiful Willow Tree figurine.  This angel is called “COURAGE”… I love love it…..thank you so much, you both filled my heart ❤️ ❤… of course here is a picture….

 

 

Sunday, February 12th, 2017:  Tiffany, Jake, Luca and myself were invited to my good friend Wendy’s house for Family Day Dinner, along with a great group of more good friends.. We had a great time, food was delicious as usual, fun company, thank you again for hosting. It was nice to spend time with Wendy, Kristin,  Grace, Jo-Anne, Ray, Melissa, Courtenay, Judy, Don and Donna, Lynda, and Erica. Here is a couple of pics,  thanks everyone

 

 

 

Monday, February 13th, 2017:

Spent my day with Tiffany, Jake, and Luca.  We did some shopping today (so many things on my mind and things I needed to do, buy, replace.  Well they helped to get some of my accomplishments done today. Thank you, love you all so much. We had a good, good day then needed to get home and get my feet up and rest. Ended up possibly pushing myself a bit much and have pretty swollen ankles and some discomfort… all better after resting again. And, if you haven’t guessed by now, and keeping with the Family Theme, here are some pictures of my family:

 

 

And of course the lovely 3:

 

And one of Luca and myself:

 

 

Well that’s my weekend which I’m glad I had as this week will be a big big week for Radiation treatments… the plan is for me to have:

Tuesday – radiation on brain

Wednesday –radiation on both brain and lung

Thursday – radiation on lung

Friday – radiation on both brain and lung

I also have a echocardiogram test tommorrow morning, February 14th at Richmond General Hospital at 7:15am. How appropriate for Valentine’s Day – testing my heart ❤️❤️❤️.  This test was already set up a couple of months ago so they want me to go ahead and get test done, may as well find out how my heart is going to take all this….

Until the next time 😍💋

 

 

New Chapter, New Day = My First day of Radiation

Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 – 8am appt at Cancer Agency  –  Saw oncology Dr Lefresne . Tiffany, Luca, and Jaime attended with me (thank you Tiffany and Jaime – truly the best – daughter and other daughter – people called me Jaime’s Vancouver mom because her mom lives in Kamloops, but her name is Maureen too so it just made sense….Oh and of course thank you Luca , well for just being you, seeing the constant smiles of my grandson make my day and my world)..

Ok, Radiologist confirmed spots on brain cancer.  Discussion was whether to treat whole brain or do stereo tactic, no to stereo tactic and yes to treating the whole brain – much more effective.

Went over risks and side effects.  Biggest side effects are tired, very very tired. Eventually may want to even sleep up to 18 hours per day 😴.. Energy levels will change, possibly some headaches and nausea – I’m already experiencing this so I guess won’t be much different.

I Will lose my hair because of course my head is being affected with the brain radiation treatment.  I did actually buy a couple of headpieces at the Cancer Agency today… ( actually they are free to cancer patients, so I didn’t technically buy the, I donated money) Tiffany says I actually look pretty good with them on 👍…

We discussed many  other symptoms and risks but I’ll stop there for now, enough for today.

Due to pain increase medications adjusted in order to control the pains.

Next off to the “mould” room to do more mapping for the brain treatments. Tiffany and Jaime were able to come and see my “cage” so it gives them a better understanding….pretty routine – getting used to it I suppose.

On Tuesday I did go and see my hairdresser and got my hair cut short short…. thanks so much Stephanie Gorges it is perfect. If you are ever looking for a new hairdresser or want to try someone different, Stephanie is the one to see. Here is a pic of my short haircut 💇

Finished off my Tuesday by meeting a good friend for dinner in Vancouver.  Tiffany, Jake and Luca drove, dropped me off and then after dinner came back and took me home….. have I yet said how wonderful they are ❤💙💙……Tina, it was such a delight  to see you and catch up – it has been way too long… thoroughly enjoyed dinner and the visit.

Treatment plan:

5 Radiation treatments on the brain to start Thursday, February 9th ( yes today is the day). So, yes treatments started today and it was fine. Initially a bit emotional I think just because it was the first day but overall I did well.

Radiation on lung to start February 15th. There will be some overlap (2 days) of doing both brain and lung radiation on the same day. Radiation for lung was set up for 25 sessions but doctor still has to confirm final plan. Doctor had indicated 15 sessions for sure but should know that answer by next week.

Signing off for now…. I’m on a purge roll so while I have some energy I will purge on…not sure if purge is the exact right word but I’m wanting just the simple things in life, and wow did I collect a lot of stuff over time, so time for some of it to go away……Not to mention I can no longer use scented soaps, body wash, shampoos, perfumes, hair products…. kept a few treasures but don’t need to keep it all.   Just like others I’m doing major spring cleaning but I started early.

Watch for next week when I talk about random “CUPID” mail I have been receiving. I thought I would wait until Valentine’s Day – it’s a warm and fill my ❤️ story….thanks all for notes, emails, texts, calls etc….. it is comforting to me. Thanks for following along with me and it is super therapeutic for me…. 💋

A bit of an addition to my previous update – let’s keep it light Monday😀

I just wanted to add a couple of things to my update I did on the weekend.  Mondays are so blah for so many people so I’ll be brief (well I’ll try, ah no guarantee 😜).

Included in my restful quiet week of no medical appointments or tests was a one day trip over to Victoria on January 29th to spend some precious time with family. Myself, my daughter Tiffany, my son in law Jake, and my grandson Luca went over on the 11am ferry.  We spent the rest of Saturday at my niece Kristen, her husband Eric, and my great niece Bridget who just celebrated turning 1 years old on January 16th.  My brother Mike and my sister-in-law Robyn came over and we had a great afternoon followed by a delicious and fun dinner… then the ‘older kids’ -myself, Mike and Robyn went back to their place and rested, relaxed, and had a glass of wine or two and needless to say we made it past midnight just gabbing and enjoying our time.  Came back to Vancouver on Sunday – truly had a wonderful relaxed and needed time with the fam.

The last few days leading up until today have had many ups and downs, and more pain but in spite of I t I managed to do a couple of fun things:

Friday evening , Feb 3rd:  Went to my friends house to have some dinner and play some cards.   Good food, good friends, and good times had by all ( thanks Wendy, Jo, and Ray)…. even turned into a PJ party, which didn’t really mean overnight PJ party, it meant we went over there in our pjs -.it really was about comfort. Had hoped to last longer than 10 pm but was really stretching it for me….but I did have a fair amount of pain going on and had horrible sleep on Thursday night as I had reacted to the medication and was up quite a lot in the night…. I had decided that on Friday I wouldn’t take any pain medication cause I wanted to have a few glasses of wine…not a good alternate plan – didn’t enjoy the wine, oh but we did have 2 shots of “Bert” which tasted good.  Anyway here is me ready and waiting for my ride 😀

 

Saturday, Feb 4th:   Went with Tiffany to get a much needed pedicure.  What a treat that was.  Definitely needed that as I had a couple of sleepless nights. Here is a pic of my pretty toes 😍

Spent the rest of Saturday in bed so it was a nice treat to start my day.

 

 

Finished off the weekend with having Michele come over for a visit and look at these gorgeous flowers she brought me…. notice the cat also in the picture – well this is Bailey and Bailey feels that all plants and flowers are here for her to pick at, play with, and eat.

 

 

 

So, after taking the picture I had to find somewhere that she couldn’t get them. The only room in the house seems to be the  bathroom so that is where they will go for now.  It’s ok they will keep this cute planter company (thank you Susan and Joanna )

So there we go…. Happy Monday everyone

 

This is some serious shit!!

Wow, so since the last update so much has happened. I did manage to have one week of no appointments or tests which became a nice break.  I went out for dinner and celebrated a friends dinner, it was lovely. Another day my friend came over and spent the whole day with us and helped me purge all of my clothing……hmmm I think I could have opened my own little clothing store with just 3 sizes available lol.

Well this week has been a totally different week, full of tests, appointments and more news, including going from discomfort in my back to pain. Ok, so here’s my week:

Monday, January 30th 9am appointment for CT scan on my brain. Monday afternoon I received a phone call from cancer agency as they had set up 4 appointments in 2 days. Tuesday January 31st – 1 pm appointment with Dr.  Lefresne followed by a 2pm appointment at the “mould room”.

1pm appointment: given news confirming the cancer in the esophagus is not related to the lung cancer so now we are at 3 different cancers….Also the brain scan has showed 3 different small, tiny spots, however the fact remains that it is in the brain too.  I’ve also been having more pain than discomfort, a week ago it was the other way around. So Doctor gave some medications rather than me using up my maximum daily dosage of ibuprofen.. so now I’m taking some low dose morphine, and also dexamethasone for nausea issues.  Doctor Set up Radiation treatments to potentially start February 15th, which so happens to be my fathers birthday ( if he was still alive would have been 87 years old this year). After discussion and tears, and lots more tears it was off to the “mould” room for my appointment.  This is in preparation for my Radiation treatments. In the mould room you are fitted and sized for a “cage”, which is an apparatus that goes across my shoulders and face and I and the apparatus are clipped into a table.  Yes, that’s right – it is a immobilizer so I don’t move during treatments.  Because I had no idea of what it even begun to look like until I actually experienced the mould being fit I will add a picture here too just to give a sense to people.. on my ‘cage’ there are holes they made at my mouth, nose, and eyes so it isn’t as bad as what the picture may portray. ( ok please note – I will add in a pic later 😀, need to get some help from my daughter or niece on how to do it…in the meantime if you want you can google ” moulds for radiation therapy”

Okay onto the next day, Wednesday February 1st: 2 pm appointment at cancer agency to see doctor and have a scan for mapping in preparation for radiation treatments.  Taken to the set up room, all that means is giving intravenous and getting you ready for the CT scan. I guess I was fairly dehydrated so they had troubles getting a vein to put the IV into. They put my saline drip on full in order to get liquids into me faster, and then heated up my hand/arm in order to get a vein to cooperate. Off to the CT scanning room.  Once again cage on and clipped to the table and a scan taken, easy peasy….oh wait, slight change in plans – a warning to women if you ever have to do this: DO Not wear underwire bra… they had to unclip me and because I had an IV drip we just had to basically leave my bra hanging off my wrist as the underwire would ruin the scan picture…….  next step they had to give IV of the ‘contrast dye’, this is the stuff the heats up your whole body literally from head to toe. Anyway, I’m still clipped and locked onto the table and they are ready to scan again… Well I guess I wasn’t. I encountered a claustrophobic heat anxiety attack, not great when you are strapped in and can’t move… anyway they had to stop everything, come back into the room and help me calm down, so that I could breathe and calm down again. I was a bit afraid to continue on but I pushed ahead as they kept saying just around 4 more minutes. I did it, they spoke through the machines to me the whole time.. I was fine now, I think it was completely because I felt overheated and when I get like that I feel like I can’t breathe. Not something I want to experience again.  Then back to the other room so they could monitor me for 10 minutes and continue to give me saline IV.  They ended up leaving me for 25 minutes as they wanted to make sure I was hydrated before leaving. Day over time to go home.

Also note this is the day that my doctor was also having the conference call with other oncologists to discuss my case. This not scheduled til 4pm so doctor  to call me Thursday. I didn’t hear from the doctor so at 4pm I put in a call and left message. Dr. Lefresne called back and said they are also planning to treat the cancer on the brain but will discuss at an appointment next week. Said radiation on whole brain made more sense than spot treatments.  Also most likely chemotherapy after radiation treatment done. Appointments set up for Wednesday February 8th at 8am to see Dr. Lefresne and then 8:30am another CT scan for mapping for brain radiation treatment…. also Radiation treatments will now be starting Thursday, February 9th.

This isn’t something that one would normally look forward to, but in this case I’m so anxious to get something going to see if any of this will do something.

Also looking at additional things – time to do more research etc.

Happy Saturday and Weekend to all… oh and can someone come and take all this damn snow away – I’m done with it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s Complicated”

Thursday, January 19th:

Spoke with Dr. Enns who had done the endoscope to check my Esophagus. He had taken 4 samples and after having it analyzed confirmed that there is cancer in the esophagus. Indicated for me to connect with cancer agency to discuss treatment plans.

Friday, January 20th:

Spoke with Dr. Lefresne regarding the latest news of esophagus.  She says “I’m complicated”….

She isn’t sure whether the cancer in esophagus is separate cancer or not.  She has asked a Pathologist to review and advise her of findings.  In the meantime, Dr. Lefresne has put my name and situation on ‘the slate’ for a conference call that involves several Oncologists that review the more complicated cases. A little bit more of the hurry up and wait situation. That conference call is not until February 1st, 2017 so Dr. Lefresne is going to go ahead and set up the CT scan to do the “mapping” for Radiation.  Her thoughts on this is to do this and that way if the decision at the conference is to go ahead with Radiation, then we will be ready to go… I’m definitely ready to get on with it!

That’s it for now, Happy Saturday ☀️

Another day, another doctor

Since my last post I’ve seen 2 more doctors and have had a “upper endoscopy” test done, and some standard blood work.

Thursday, January 12th, 2017 8am appointment with Dr. R. Enns of Pacific Gastroenterology Associates located downtown Vancouver.  Dr. Enns performed a upper endoscopy.  He was asked to do an assessment of my esophagus as something had ‘lit up’ when I had my PET scan done in December.  After the procedure Dr. Enns asked if I have been suffering from any heartburn or having any troubles swallowing, which I hadn’t noticed either of these.  Told me he took 4 samples, prescribed some heartburn medication (preventative) and asked me to call him in 1 week as he may want to do the procedure again.  Rest of the day a write-off for me, I guess the sedatives were quite effective…..I stayed in bed and slept all day and night, other than getting up for bathroom breaks and to eat lunch and dinner (I think I enjoyed my food).  Note that this was also Day 5 of having a head cold so have accomplished zero during the past 5 days anyway. Actually wait I had a huge productive day on the Wednesday – did a couple of things around the house and managed to do several hours of work on the computer.

Monday, January 16th, 2017 8:30am appointment at BC Cancer Agency.  A lot of paperwork to fill out prior to my appointment with Dr. S. Lefresne who will be my Radiation Oncologist Doctor.  Tiffany and Jaime attended this appointment/meeting as they indicated would be 2 – 3 hour appointment.  I’m very fortunate right now that my daughter Tiffany is on maternity leave, and that my niece Jaimie has flexible supervisors that allow her to change up her schedule.  Lots and lots and lots and lots of information to absorb so I’m very glad we had a total of 6 ears to take in all this information, and yes if you ask Tiffany and Jaime, it was probably more like 4 ears (mine not included).  Once again Jaime took many notes for us.  Dr. Lefresne is the doctor who requested the assessment of the esophagus be done and unfortunately didn’t have a report back from Dr. Enns, she did try to track him down while we were there as she was hoping to give me an update but to no avail.   She also still wanted to consult with a Thoracic Surgeon but I hadn’t been contacted yet by anyone.  The referral had been sent in by Dr. Ho at the end of December.  Dr. Lefresne wasn’t sure that I would need to see a thoracic surgeon or not, they would decide that when she did a consultation with a surgeon.    Dr. Lefresne went over several different options and several different short term and long term risks,  but no definite plan is in place at this time.   Again, because I’m the “odd duck” they are trying to narrow down a concrete plan.  I have to say at least all these medical professionals are being very thorough with me and I appreciate that.

Dr. Lefresne will call me to discuss the plan once she has consulted with Dr. Enns and also a Thoracic Surgeon.  In the meantime, they would like to do a CT Scan of my brain to ensure there is no spreading.  PET Scans do not scan the head and so therefore they want to do this as well as they want to be thorough.  CT Scan on brain set up for January 30th, 2017 at the Cancer Agency.  ON our way out, stopped into the lab and got some blood work done.

How am I feeling overall some have asked. Well I am extremely exhausted on a regular basis, bits of nausea still happening and loss of appetite is noticeable. Also having some back discomfort which the doctor thinks could be from the tumor on the right lung as that is where I’m feeling some discomfort.

For those of you that have ever had to go to the Cancer Agency will understand this:   The Cancer Agency is a wonderful, well organized organization and certainly so far the people I have encountered are great.  It is definitely a scary place to go into but they take care of you well and make you feel comfortable.   I just want to also say a big thanks to people that have driven me so far to some of my appointments, I do appreciate it.

And as I have told many others when they are stressed out or feeling overwhelmed etc…..I say this to myself now  “JUST BREATHE”

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction and summary of health journey so far

“JANUARY 2017 – Current diagnosis:  Two types of Lung Cancer:

Left lung:  Stage 1 “Squamous” – treatable and operable

Right lung:  Stage 3B “Adeno” – treatable but not operable.

Next Steps:

1. Referral to see Radiation Oncologist at Cancer Agency to discuss best method of treatments.
2. Referral to lung surgeon at VGH to determine if can operate on left lung.  The big question will be whether the right lung will be strong enough to handle the surgery.

Wow  where do I even start…..all the rest may just be garbled notes but I really wanted to just get this out there and give people a understanding of my current situation. Please bear with me, some of this may seem long and drawn out  but hey well that’s just the way it is…

Some people will ask Why do a Blog.  For me, there are a couple of main reasons for it.  One reason is for myself, it helps me to process everything when I write it all down.  Another reason of course is because I can update people on my status/condition/etc.      I appreciate the fact that I have so many caring people in my life and I realize I have a wide circle of friends out there.  Prior to doing this blog I had made some people aware of my situation, and so each appointment or test that I was going to I tried to remember to update people by a) phone some people; b) text some people; c) messenger some people and d) email some people.  It actually became quite stressful to try to remember to update people, so simply a blog can help take care of that.  You may find much of this boring and that’s okay,  but again, I’m doing this for me.

Summary from August to December 2016:

I hadn’t been feeling well over the course of the summer months, the clincher was when I went camping for a few days with some good friends – I didn’t feel well the whole time I was there, I had no energy , no desire to do anything – so I spent the better part of the 3 days simply doing very little.   Different symptoms I was having/feeling included: severe swelling of ankles (they actually hurt); waves of nausea; a lot of fatigue; some imbalance; shortness of breath; catching my breath; and an overall weakness.

I actually called my doctors office from the campsite to set up an appointment with my doctor for the week I returned from camping. Had to cancel first appointment so set up new appointment with my doctor (Dr. Shaoli Wang) for Sept 6th.    Blood pressure was up 168/100 – doctor concerned as I already take 2 different pills for blood pressure so reading should be much better than it was.  Doctor sent me for bloodwork, and also chest X-ray, oh and let’s not forget the ‘pee in a cup’….we’ve all had to do that. Doctor  made an appointment for the next day to get physical done.  Also prescribed me a pill to attempt to get the water retention under control. Returned to doctor on September 7th, 2016 for full physical exam etc.  Doctor received results back already from my blood tests and x-ray. Kidney function tests were a lot worse from the last tests I had.  The BUN levels – yep no, I don’t really have much clue what that really means other than doctor was not happy.  Later found out that BUN stands for Blood Urea Nitrogen. Anyway, the previous test was -10 and this one was -63.  This caused enough concern for my doctor to refer me to a Internal Medicine Specialist, as perhaps the current medication I was taking for blood pressure and kidney function wasn’t any longer being effective.  So referral made to Doctor Stephen Wong, appointment set for Wednesday, September 21st, 2016 at 8:00am.  Doctor told me to continue taking the additional water retention pill until I see Dr. Wong. When I filled the prescription the Pharmacist warned me to be careful with taking these pills and not to make any “sudden quick moves” as it could cause my blood pressure to drop quite a bit.  Break to spend some valuable time with family on  September 9th and September 10th as it was the 9th Annual Jim Brady Memorial Golf tournament.  On September 11th all was quiet again and I ended up having a “drop in blood pressure” episode that evening.  I was laying on the couch and wasn’t feeling well so jumped up to go to the bathroom as I thought I was going to be sick.  Well, I guess I got up too quick.  By the time I reached the bathroom my blood pressure did the ‘drastic drop’. I managed to sit down on the toilet before everything started to spin.  I called out to my daughter Tiffany to come help.  After that I couldn’t get too many words out, slurred speech, cold sweats, and couldn’t hold my head up. Tiffany wanted to call 911, but I said I was okay, so Tiffany had to stay with me and hold my head for me.  Long story short, I was a bit of a mess, we should have probably called 911 and let them determine whether I was okay or not.  Lesson learned:  If ever happens again, immediately call 911.

Ok, well I guess this story is going to be a lot longer than I thought but it also helps me to really process everything that I have been going through…and so you will just have to bear with me as I write all this down.   LOL…ok I just had to go back and change the title – it originally said “brief” summary – well had to take that word out.

Saw Dr. Wong (Internal Medicine) on September 21st, 2016 to review kidney function etc.  Said most likely my kidney issues are being cause by protein leaking from kidney.  Also concern with the lung issues and shortness of breath – number one thing I need to do is quit smoking (YAY this is accomplished – no smoking not even a puff since November 1st, 2016).  Requested CT scan on kidney as well as echogram requested.  CT scan scheduled for Sunday, October 9th, 2016 at 8:45am to check lung.

Got results back from CT Scan.    Results showed spotting on lung and so referral made to lung specialist.  Also when they did the CT Scan something detected on kidney/adrenal gland and need another CT Scan to check kidneys.  Saw lung specialist on November 14th  (Dr. Kliber who is covering for Dr. Lau).  Indication that if lesions on lymph nodes were non cancerous  they would/could go in and remove spot/shadow on lung.  Bronchoscopy set up for Tuesday, November 18th with Dr. Lau at Richmond Hospital.  Also ordered PET scan through BC Cancer Agency, as well as a Cardio Breathing test.

CT Scan done on November 16th, 2016.  Results show tumor on adrenal gland but is benign.  Yay some good news day!!!!

PET Scan done on December 1st, 2016 and received those results on December 6th., 2016.  Unfortunately the tumors on lymph nodes are cancerous and therefore are not operable.  Dr. Lau would like another test done, this will be done through Dr. Shaipanich at St. Paul’s hospital.  This test is called an EBUS – more indepth bronchoscope.  OK Ok you still with me?  I know it is a lot of dates and tests and more dates and waiting, but hey this has been my life for the past 3 to 4 months.

Ok, EBUS test done on Tuesday, December 13th, 2016 at ST. Paul’s Hospital.  Four biopsies done.

December 19th, 2016 – Breathing test set up at Richmond Hospital.

December 22nd, 2016 – Appointment with Dr. Lau (Dr. Kliber covering) to get results from EBUS test.  Positive cancer on lung and lymph nodes – referral to Oncologist and to a Thoracic Surgeon. Plan is to do treatment and also surgeon to assess whether they can operate or not.  Received a call later that day to let me know they changed their mind about the referral to the surgeon, just going to refer me to the Oncologist

December 30th, 2016 – Appointment at Richmond Hospital Cancer Care Centre:  Tiffany, my niece Jaime and my grandson Luca attending this meeting with me.  Saw Oncologist Dr. Jeremy Ho and he said that I am a bit of a Conundrum for them.  Called me ODD  (hahahaha).   I said I always thought I was an Odd Duck, and now I’ve got confirmation from a doctor LOL. Yes, Tiffany and Jaime did have a bit of fun with this.

The  reason they are indicating I’m  odd is because I have 2 different types of cancer in the lungs.  This is now called The ODD DUCK syndrome:

Left lung:  “Squamous” cancer – Stage 1  – possibly operable

Right lung/lymph node:  “Adeno” cancer – Stage 3B and is not operable.

Dr. Ho has indicated could be problematic because of both lungs may not be strong enough however he would like another opinion and has done a referral to a lung surgeon as well as a referral to Radiation Oncologist at BC Cancer Agency.

For now, I’ll conclude here.  I will update this blog as things change.

WISHING EVERYONE A WONDERFUL 2017 AND Health and Happiness to All!!