Well, the last time...

I have been given the (unique, unfair, life altering, etc.) opportunity to experience not one, but two cancers in three years.

In May of 2006, at the age of 39, I was diagnosed with Stage IIa breast cancer. It was a shock, as it is for most. There weren't any immediate family member with it, but that's true of about 90% of breast cancers, even in ones diagnosed in younger women. I had a lumpectomy and sentinel biopsy, four rounds of chemo with Taxol and Cytoxan, and 7 weeks (5 days a week) of radiation. In the words of late newspaper columnist Molly Ivins: "Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that."

I got through it all, with the help of friends and family, my hair grew back and, after a really stressful year at work in 2008, I was happy to start off 2009 with a change in positions and getting into a Ph.D. program in Anthropology at the University of Georgia.

But I had begun having some digestive problems in January...mostly just (ick) constipation. I was convinced I was developing some kind of lactose intolerance or some other simple thing, but at the same time had a nagging thought that something seemed a bit "alien" in my abdomen. I had a couple of severe bouts of stomach pain on a short work trip to Uganda in late March and, with some encouragement of a co-worker, went to a doctor when I returned. Truth be told, by that point I had felt something in my abdomen but assumed it was something that had to do with my colon, as in (apologies) hoping I was just full of crap. The doctor took an X-ray and could tell something was amiss as well as feel what could have been a mass. I was sent the same day (April Fool's!) to get a CT scan. It was about 4:30PM when I finished. The CT tech and doctor didn't say anything to me, just that they would give my results to my doctor. But I had a sinking feeling when I saw the look on the tech's face as she handed me the CD-Rom with my scan on it.

I decided that I would just go out to dinner and relax. Before my meal arrived I got a call from my doctor. I told her to go ahead even though I wasn't at home...bad news...they found a mass and believed it was metastatic. For a few moments after the call I was numb and even took a few bites of dinner while I waited for my check.

...Cutting to the chase, and more discussion of the joys of waiting around to be diagnosed for another post, it wasn't metastatic. Instead, I have been diagnosed with Stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A not too common event for such a recent survivor of another cancer. I'm now in the unenviable position of recovery from surgery and moving on to chemo treatments...and, unlike many, keep finding myself saying, "Well, the last time..."

Just to note: I want to say thanks to my family and friends who have been helping me through this. I've started this blog to keep family, co-workers, and acquaintances updated. You all help me so much just by being there.