Stardate: 92848.3 (March 31, 2015). I was on my way to my (then) weekly acupuncture appointment with high school friend and acupuncture expert Jason Bussell, when I received a phone call giving me the scariest news I could ever possibly hear. The lung needle biopsy I had a couple days ago revealed blah blah blah blah blah lymphoma. Really, the doctor said Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, but I didn’t hear anything that came before lymphoma. It was like I’ve been hit with a brick wall. Or hit a brick wall. That makes more sense.
I called Hubs and told him. He left work right away to meet me at home. I walked into A Center for Oriental Medicine, said to Jason, “It’s lymphoma.” And cried as he hugged me. On my dazed and confused ride home, I received phone calls from my new nurses and coordinators and set about making appointments to meet with a hematologist-oncologist. After a few wrong turns down very familiar streets, I got my bearings and headed home to meet Hubs.
By the time he walked in the door, I was strangely, quickly on my way to acceptance and ready to tackle this the best way I knew how. I started a CaringBridge journal and began blogging everything. Even though I decided not to tell anyone else until we knew my prognosis and course of treatment, I had to get my thoughts down on (digital) paper. Over the following months, what I ended up with is a snarky, irreverent, often inappropriate account of my cancer story, complete with the most amazing cast of characters in my cheering section. In the pages that follow, I include their original comments verbatim – after all, they’re a big part of the story and how Ingot through it all.
You may notice that at the bottom of each page in the story, there’s a link to the next. It’s a story and should be read chronologically. That said, the menu above will help you get back to where you left off.
Why would anyone want to live these moments all over again? First, for me, it was great to re-read all the supportive comments from my amazing peeps. I can’t help but feel the love. B, let’s face it, we’re voyeuristic by nature and our curiosity gets the best of us. 3, maybe you know someone going through a cancer diagnosis and treatment, and they’ve got questions that my experiences might answer. Please, by all means, pass this on to them. IV, it’s damn funny (in a dark sort of way, obviously).
So, read on and enjoy… Fuck Cancer – CaringBridge Introduction →