Meet Buster: My Big, Fat Tumor

My blood transfusion finished a few hours ago. I now have at least a quarter liter of new blood to top me off and increase my hemoglobin count. This also means I should be good to go tomorrow for an afternoon release from the hospital. My nurse took a vial of blood from my port for lab results in the morning, and Dr. Low should be going over this with me before breakfast.

I had a lot of visitors today, which was great; mom in the morning, Dad & Carol, Lance, Melissa and Kasha. My Dad & Carol arrived just as I was finishing a 2nd lap around the 4th floor during physical therapy. A therapist ties a belt to my waist (like a leash) and holds my IV stand while I walk ahead of or beside her, passing by rooms of other cancer patients and also the nurse’s station. My right leg has become a little more weak than my left, so I’m working on correcting my stride to keep it moving right. I’ve been using a cane from the hospital and also had one ordered to take with me (it arrived later– black, aluminum, adjustable). I have to make the effort to get out of the house and into the heat this week to get some long walks in.

Dad & Carol drove down from their home in Pinetop last night to take care of some Phoenix biz today and see me. They told me about taking an alternate route along Route 191 to see the massive Morenci mine of eastern Arizona, then a drive up Mt. Graham near Safford where they saw a young black bear.

I had my recent diagram of spinal tumors from Dr. Shaw of the radiation therapy team, and I shared this with them. It represented the CT scan of my full back the week before that revealed several sizable tumors along the thoracic region of my spine, all cancerous and a few of them exerting pressure on my vertebrae. Basically, over a half dozen tumors run the length of my spine from neck to end of ribcage and could cause paralysis in my legs or even arms if they continue to grow and cause pressure. Doctors have told me to alert them to any new sensations in my extremities– numbness, pins & needles, shooting pain, etc.

All said, though, my spine is in pretty good shape I would think. It’s the soft tissue that’s all f*cked. I’ve been getting regular chiropractic adjustments since winter of 2003, and it’s a shame Dr. Dan’s fingers and measurement tools didn’t pick up on the tumors, but “escaping easy detection” is the understated phrase that has hidden my cancer for years.

My first round of chemotherapy was targeted to Ewing’s Sarcoma, which we now know is not my diagnosis. While the majority of the drug cocktail is still able to help me, this next cycle will substitute one different drug that is specific to my current diagnosis, Neuroblastoma. The radiation specialists have recommended that we hold off on radiating my spine tumors because this could keep the chemo from doing its job– shrinking tumors throughout my entire body, namely Buster.

The chemo is working. It’s important to me that all of you understand the extent of my cancer, though. It has metastasized (spread) throughout my body, including many of my large bones and bone marrow. The question some of you may be asking at this point is:

Is my case of cancer curable? Doctors say no.

Is it treatable? Yes, meaning that my surgeries, chemo and radiation treatments can allow me to have a decent quality of life in the months or years I have left.

And I feel as though I have some very important things to do in my time. I’ll be telling you all more about this soon. In the meantime, I wait to babystep out the hospital doors tomorrow.