Mike had to have a PICC line put in. For those of you who don’t know, it is a temporary catheter inserted into his vein. They threaded a very fine tube into a vein, up his arm, around his shoulder and just above his heart. This is where the chemotherapy drugs would be administered and where they could withdraw blood without having to prick him every time. A normal IV line would not be ideal for administering chemo meds for many reasons, the main one being that the chemo drugs are so potent and toxic that it would burn the line. One of the nurses told us that the drugs are so dangerous that if you were to drip some on your bare skin it would be like having a third degree burn.
This PICC line proved to be quite inconvenient and uncomfortable, and over time he developed a rash from the tape that held the contraption on. But it was better than having needles so often. Normally for this type of cancer they would insert a port directly into the heart, which would require a surgery. But because Mike had what was considered a ‘bulky disease’, this wasn’t recommended. A port is used for more long-term treatment, and is less invasive, but, Dr. Woelk didn’t want to mess with all the internal cancerous lumps.
During the month of April, life continued quite normally for us. Mike continued working, counting down the days until life as he knew it ended. He really loved his job, and couldn’t imagine not going to work every day. During his last weeks at work, he prepared for his time away, finishing up loose ends. Mike also had many tests and appointments in Winnipeg during this month. We met with our oncologist at CancerCare Manitoba in Winnipeg. The doctor we were assigned to was Dr. Swajzcer. As we were sitting in the waiting room at CancerCare, I looked around at other cancer patients and their families. That’s when it really hit me what we were dealing with. Mike had cancer! It all began feeling more real for me at that moment.
It was a very long day at the hospital. We meet with the oncology nurse, a medical student, Dr. Swajzcer, and the cancer care pharmacist. Again, it was a day of information overload. The scan showed that the tumours were everywhere in his neck, his chest, and above his diaphragm. The largest lump was the one that was visible and measured 9 cm in diameter. The size of an average lymph node is between 0.7 and 1.3 cm. We were told that Mike would do chemo every other week. One cycle of chemo treatment was 28 days, so he had chemo on days 1 and 14. We had many questions, but we knew that these questions would eventually get answered as we learned a new normal.
Mike also had to have a bone marrow biopsy done that day. This we were not prepared for. I was asked if I wanted to stay in the room and watch. I figured, sure, why not? I wanted to be involved in every step of this cancer process, no matter how difficult. It was not easy to watch. No woman should ever have to see their man in that much pain. But I’m glad I was there with him. I somehow felt like being there eased some of the burden for him. The biopsy would determine whether there was cancer in his bone marrow. Thankfully, there was not! This was significant for many reasons, but it especially helped to classify the stage of the lymphoma. The doctors discovered that Mike was in Stage 2B, instead of Stage 3/4 which they initially suspected. The B was just to indicate that he had certain symptoms like night sweats, chills, becoming short of breath, the odd fever and a cough. But that was still good news! Prayer works! God gets all the glory! Another heart, another blessing!
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