Week 4

The waiting and wondering is over; Monday was the day we, as a family, finally found out what the diagnosis and prognosis was, and what course the treatment plan will take.  I was not able to go with my sister and her husband (and rightly so ... dang it), so I tried to keep busy with entertaining my grandson since he was home from school due to this day being a holiday.  Sitting on pins and needles is not my forte - I don't do it well.  I did not know anything until they finally came home in the early part of the afternoon. 

Her diagnosis is:  Stage IV, Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  She has cancer in the lymph nodes of her neck, abdominal cavity, and bone marrow of her hips and legs.  (My chin drops to the driveway and all sorts of stuff is now going through my head.)  Prognosis:  this cancer is treatable.  Her oncologist has a positive outlook as to her treatment, and did not mention what the chances of survival are for this type of cancer.  She will get bombarded with 4 different types of chemo every 3 weeks for a total of 6 treatments.  Guess I need to break out my knitting needles because she will need a warm hat for her balding head.  :-)

We still don't know know why the biopsies were sent to the May Clinic because little sister forgot to ask, and so did Mr. Little Sister.  She is still treating all of this new information as if she is being told has a hang nail.  She still amazes me.

Once the diagnosis was given, things moved quickly.  Her Mediport was installed in her upper left chest area on Thursday, her PET scan was scheduled for the following week, and treatment was to start the very next Monday after the PET scan.  We got to see up-close-and-personal how an insurance company works because they dragged their feet on approving the PET scan in the first place.  Why did they approve the insertion of the Mediport, but have a problem with the PET scan?  I guess we will never know.

In the meantime, while waiting for the insurance company to get off their behinds, I watched my sister begin to fade as each day passed,  Her pain was increasing, and her energy level was decreasing at a rapid pace.  What bothered me the most is that there was nothing I could do for her, especially since she warned all of us to stop hovering; she was not an invalid.  So much like her father, that one!  Gotta love her.

Now we wait until Monday for the results of the PET and the start of her first treatment so that she can travel the road to recovery.