From my friend Kathryn

When I told my friend Kathryn about the diagnosis, I was amused by her response. She sent me the following:

Cathy,

Right after I got your initial message about all this, as I was processing and everything, I found myself wanting to argue with your cancer and say, um, excuse me, but my friend here is young, doesn't smoke, and otherwise takes pretty damn good care of herself, so clearly you have taken a wrong turn somewhere. I'm sure you didn't mean to, and if you'll just kindly turn around and go back to wherever the hell you came from, then no hard feelings, and we'll all just forget this ever happened.

I agree Kathryn! I promise I'll do my best to get this stupid cancer to not only go back from where it came, but run there screaming in terror. :)

In the beginning

My sweet husband Daniel got me a massage for my 36th birthday. I scheduled it for Saturday, January 30th, 2010 and at the end the masseuse brought a lump in my neck to my attention. I had never noticed it and it doesn't hurt.

The next two weeks were a whirlwind of doctors appointments, blood work, multiple CAT Scans, PET scans, biopsies and a bone marrow extraction. I was diagnosed with Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin's Lymphoma on Friday, February 5th, 2010. Not quite the birthday gift I was expecting.

I have no real symptoms thus far so my primary doctor and oncologist are hopeful that I'm in an early, treatable stage. The night I was given the diagnosis my husband and I hugged and cheered! Treatable and possibly curable??? Thank you Lord.

That adrenaline has worn off and we're now faced with the reality of cancer. We're still thankful, of course. We're gearing up for the days of chemotherapy and possible radiation to come.