Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, we discovered that my
wife has stage 4 lymphoma. This happened right in the middle of my own
treatment for stage 3 prostate cancer. We had both retired and were in
the process of moving to Florida when I had a biopsy that confirmed what
I had suspected for a couple years... yes, I have cancer. For me it was
a "relief" to finally have a diagnosis after so many negative test.
So in
between furniture movers and renovations and showing our house, I managed to
fit in a radical prostatectomy surgery. The results were worse than I had
thought. Stage 3B, locally advanced, and very high risk. Once
we finally had relocated to our retirement home I was scheduled to begin
radiation treatment for the residual cancer, when I became concerned
about the pains that my wife had developed during our move.
Several therapists (we hadn't even found a doctor yet) were treating it as a bruised rib or strained muscle. After all, we had just moved tons of accumulated stuff from our home of nearly 35 years. Finally we PAID CASH to get an MRI, bypassing insurance for expediency. The MRI revealed a tumor on her spine. Even with the MRI in hand, we had trouble getting in to see a doctor. Eventually her pain became so great that I took her to the ER. This was yet another horrifying experience. Fortunately after twelve hours in the ER and looking like they would be sending her home yet again, a neurosurgical resident finally admitted her.
Several days and many tests later they discovered a somewhat rare form of NHL known as primary bone lymphoma. They radiated her spine. They began R-CHOP chemotherapy... and she was home just in time for Christmas (yay!). But that's not the end of it. Right after Christmas she said she couldn't see out of one eye. We got her into an ophthalmologist who referred her to a retina specialist who performed emergency surgery right away. When it rains, it pours!
Every three weeks I had to drive her to her chemo, which lasted all day. In addition, because of the spinal involvement, she also had to have a lumbar puncture three days after each round, to infuse methotrexate into her spinal fluid to keep the cancer from spreading into her brain. Throw in a few visits to her eye doctor and I had become a chauffeur several days a week. I was now a "caregiver".
In the meantime, I had never regained continence following the prostatectomy, even after a dozen sessions with a physical therapist. So my urologist - the third one by that time, referred me to yet another urologist to implant an artificial urinary sphincter, so that my bladder could hold enough fluid to undergo the daily radiation treatments. The surgery was to be scheduled upon completion of my wife's lymphoma treatments.
So the long and short of it is that my cancer took a back seat to hers, as mine required eight weeks of daily radiation treatments. And I could not commit to treatment every day if I would be driving her to all day therapies. Now her lymphoma treatment has ended. We get her final scans next week, to determine if she is in full remission, or if she needs to continue a few more rounds of chemo.
Several therapists (we hadn't even found a doctor yet) were treating it as a bruised rib or strained muscle. After all, we had just moved tons of accumulated stuff from our home of nearly 35 years. Finally we PAID CASH to get an MRI, bypassing insurance for expediency. The MRI revealed a tumor on her spine. Even with the MRI in hand, we had trouble getting in to see a doctor. Eventually her pain became so great that I took her to the ER. This was yet another horrifying experience. Fortunately after twelve hours in the ER and looking like they would be sending her home yet again, a neurosurgical resident finally admitted her.
Several days and many tests later they discovered a somewhat rare form of NHL known as primary bone lymphoma. They radiated her spine. They began R-CHOP chemotherapy... and she was home just in time for Christmas (yay!). But that's not the end of it. Right after Christmas she said she couldn't see out of one eye. We got her into an ophthalmologist who referred her to a retina specialist who performed emergency surgery right away. When it rains, it pours!
Every three weeks I had to drive her to her chemo, which lasted all day. In addition, because of the spinal involvement, she also had to have a lumbar puncture three days after each round, to infuse methotrexate into her spinal fluid to keep the cancer from spreading into her brain. Throw in a few visits to her eye doctor and I had become a chauffeur several days a week. I was now a "caregiver".
In the meantime, I had never regained continence following the prostatectomy, even after a dozen sessions with a physical therapist. So my urologist - the third one by that time, referred me to yet another urologist to implant an artificial urinary sphincter, so that my bladder could hold enough fluid to undergo the daily radiation treatments. The surgery was to be scheduled upon completion of my wife's lymphoma treatments.
So the long and short of it is that my cancer took a back seat to hers, as mine required eight weeks of daily radiation treatments. And I could not commit to treatment every day if I would be driving her to all day therapies. Now her lymphoma treatment has ended. We get her final scans next week, to determine if she is in full remission, or if she needs to continue a few more rounds of chemo.
