The Final Diagnosis

I am sorry to keep you all on pins and needles with the news from Dina's appointment.  It has just been a lot to process...a few of her friends stopping over to see her, but she and Jamie had gone to his parents to give them the news, so they came to my house to find out the report.
 
In technical terms it is called "Diffused Large B Cell Lymphoma"...it is Non-Hodgkins...we viewed her PET Scan and her spleen was very black and very large, she had lots of other black areas...on the sacrum, in the back along the spine, her neck and maybe a small one in her groin.  It is considered stage 3 with a bit of Stage 4 too...probably because of all areas of her body effected.  But, it is not all bad, well, yes it is bad that she has this, but really fortunate that she had the pain in her lower back to lead to this diagnosis.

And the doctor says 70 % cure rate...we are going with this and full steam into treatment.  Next Tuesday she will have a port put in.  On Wednesday she will have a bone marrow procedure.  Thursday she will have an echocardiogram and a few other tests.  Then she can start her chemo treatment.  She will have 6 treatments 3 weeks apart...about 4 1/2 months.  The first treatment will take 6 hours, the next ones closer to 4 hours.

Other than her back hurting, she doesn't have any other symptoms.  The doctor thinks that within two weeks of getting her first treatment she should notice marked improvement in the pain in her back.  That is great news.  The doctor warned her about losing all her hair...probably rather quickly...so we plan to go shopping for HATS next week, while she still feels okay (pre-chemo).  She has been given all the prescriptions to help her cope with side effects...constipation, diarrhea, nausea.  He wants her to keep a  handle on the pain, his goal is for "0" pain...she does not have to be a martyr and cope with discomfort...he prescribed oxycodone.  He warned about fatigue and appetite loss saying it is most important to drink a lot of fluids, gatorade is good because it has electrolytes.

The next 5 months will be a "New Kind of Normal" for all of us as we live with this and handle life with a young family...a family who is involved with lots of activities.  Ellie is playing volleyball in a fall league, playing basketball in a "pick-up" league, also doing cross country after school.  Lily is in girl scouts, stays after school one day a week for choir and is also playing volleyball.  Jalen started soccer this year...what a hoot he is to watch...!

I may have mentioned that I started knitting a "Prayer Shawl" for Dina as soon as we had our first oncology appointment.  I finished the shawl Sunday night and brought it with me and placed it around her shoulders in the doctor's office today...I told her every stitch was said with a prayer...a prayer for healing and comfort.  I had to back stitch a few as the "count" got away from me..*wink*, but I  prayed the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, over and over again.  I did stop a few times and closed my eyes and said a private prayer to God (I believe I may have done some begging, too!).  I listened to my Rosary CD also and that was  really calming to me and I didn't make as many mistakes when I listened to the CD...

I think that now I will start blogging a little more regularly and post about her days, how she is feeling etc...as I want this to be a diary and a place to remember all these details that I know one day I will forget.

Thank you for staying with me on this journey and most of all thank you for all your prayers...they are working, truly I believe God answered mine...


Here is a Caring Bridge site that a friend of Dina's helped Ellie start.  Ellie is posting little comments about her mom and keeping everyone informed about how she is feeling.  If you would like to leave a comment for either Ellie or Dina, you can do so on this site.  You may have to sign in for an account, but it is an easy process and you can look at pictures that Ellie has posted and read the comments from others.  I am sure Ellie and Dina would both love to hear from you.  This is an awesome tool that will help Ellie feel connected to her mom during this process and that she is doing her part in supporting her mom.