The problem - part 3

Thrilled to report that the sister in law has officially wrapped up her Chemo and Radiation treatments for her cancer, and is on the 5 year ticker towards cured status. They've been through hell, and there are still some residual issues to deal with related to the cancer, but the cancer itself looks to have lost the fight at this stage. Grateful to a lot of people, and relieved in a huge way.

8/5 - The relief has been tempered a bit, actually a lot, by Elden's news tonight. What a fight the Nelson's have put up against this POS disease, and can promise you they're not done!

Follow up on The Problem

The problem turned out to be what we suspected, a cancerous tumor a little larger than a fist in my sister in law's chest. The problem has now been nicknamed Dumbmass - as in dumb mass - and the fight started yesterday with the first round of Chemo. There are some positives - within the major suckage factor of having cancer.

• This particular cancer is non hodgkins lymphoma - apparently, if your going to be attacked by a dumbmass, this type is among the more treatable.
• It's stage 1, meaning the cancer looks to still be concentrated at the original site and hasn't spread (bone marrow test pending, but everything else looks good).
• 80% cure rate.
• The swelling that tipped us off to this whole thing should retreat early on in the treatment.
• Really solid support system between her husband, family and friends. It's been impressive to see how the troops rally around something like this.

I've lost close friends to this disease, and this one doesn't feel like those did - I think we'll get it beat. But this is as close to home as it's ever hit. It pisses me off.

When the problem is not THE problem

It's 1:00 am and I just got back from the new hospital in Murray. Was up there to see my youngest brother and his wife (just married this fall) whose day started with going in for a CT scan to try and pin down the cause of some recent swelling in her neck and chest. She get's scanned, they head home, optimistic about getting the call later and finding out what the issue is and getting it fixed. Right about when they got home is when the day started to change. They get the call asking them to turn around and come back in.

General assumption is that that's not a positive.

They get back and are told Superior Vena Cava Syndrome is the culprit for the swelling and chest discomfort. Call goes out to family, we all start digging around to find out what it is, etc.... My brother and his wife are sent down to the hospital in Murray and admitted for the weekend so she can get a few more tests and the biopsy.

You'll probably google SVCS after reading this, but I'll give you a readers digest version. While this SVCS thing is the problem that caused the swelling, etc..., it's actually just a symptom of the real problem, and there's a decent chance that this gets real hard for this little family in the next couple of days.