Saturday, September 23, 2023

Today has been an up-and-down kind of day. I started off with little to no pain, but it really started to ramp up as the day went on. The weather today had a lot to do with my pain levels, as we are in the middle of a nor’easter. A nor’easter, or an East Coast low, is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast.

So I took some prednisone to help with the flare-up. Usually, when we have weather changes like this, I have a flare-up to go with it. Then I had to increase my pain meds to help combat the increase in pain. Fun times!

I’m also down for some reason today, I don’t know why, I just am. I think that the weather has much to do with that. 

Monday, September 25 2023

Today has been a total trainwreck. I managed to mess up my alarms and way overslept to go to work this morning, and I felt like crap so I took the day off. I have been out of sorts all day, I really can’t describe it, I’m just numb and lost
I had a new issue today, where I couldn’t just find the words I wanted to say, I literally couldn’t remember how to move my mouth and tongue to form the words I wanted to say. It was really strange.

I’m nervous about tomorrow, I mean sho wouldn’t be nervous. Tomorrow could be a day that changes my life. 

Tuesday, September 26th 2023

Biopsy day – I arrived on time, actually a little early, because, well, it’s a Marine thing (15 minutes early is late). I didn’t have to wait long, I was taken back, signed some forms, and then they had me lay on a table. I waited and waited and waited, in fact, I was lying on the table for more than an hour before they finally came in to do the biopsy. The good thing is the nurse kept coming in and laying a new warm blanket on me.

And now we wait!!!

Once all the doctors were in the room, the procedure was really quick. I didn’t have any pain from it at all actually. Once they had their samples, they ran them to the lab and came back some 15 minutes or more later and stated that they needed more. So they repeated it again. The appointment was for 8 a.m. and they were all done by 10. Besides the wait, it was rather painless.

And now we wait!!!

It’s 10 p.m. as I’m drafting this post, and boy are my lymph nodes so sore after the doctors all had to feel them and then stabbing the needles in them.

It will be about a week until I hear back from my oncologist.

And now we wait!!!

If it is not Lymphoma, then I need to figure out what they are “reactive” to. 

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients are five times more likely to get Lymphoma. But RA can cause Lymph Nodes to be reactive on their own. I’m not sure if it can cause them to be reactive for 3 months straight, but that is a question for another day.

And now we wait!!!

Right now the left one is about twice its normal size and the right side is more like three or more times. 

And now we wait!!!