The Discovery

It all started with a slight pain in my mid-back left-hand side. It started like a PMS pain, maybe a pulled muscle. It wasn't bad enough for pain meds-just slightly uncomfortable. Over the next week it got worse. I started taking Aleve and Tylenol. Even these started not working. We were in Wenatchee, staying in a cabin on the river for the last vacation of the summer. I decided I needed to go to walk in ER clinic at the hospital in Wenatchee because the pain just seemed to be getting worse and I at least wanted some good pain medications so I could enjoy the rest of my vacation.
Once back in the ER, they decided I needed an ultrasound. Maybe I had a kidney stone. I knew things didn't look good when the ultrasound technician said "hmmm" I need to go get the boss. Then both of them started going to town taking pics of lungs, heart, and all over my abdomen.
Then, I was off to a chest x-ray. The ER doc explained that the x-ray showed an enlarged heart, pleural effusion (fluid in lung), and some large masses in my chest. He wanted a CT scan.
Once the CT scan came back, the ER doc told me to get straight home and see my Dr. on Monday. They wouldn't give a diagnosis, but said that I had a lot of suspicious masses in my torso. The most likely cause of the pain was a mass between my heart and lung-causing the fluid build-up. I had noticed I was a little short of breath the last couple of days, but I thought it was just because of the pain in my back. So, I had an idea that I might have cancer at this point. I had to wait until Monday to get more answers. (This was Friday-it made for a long weekend)
We decided not to head straight home, since there was nothing I could do until Monday. A prescription of Percocet made the rest of the vacation much more enjoyable : )
Monday finally came. I started out with an appointment with my general Dr. He pretty much told me looks like cancer and sent me to an oncologist later in the day. (BTW he did charge full office visit for this) I got into the oncologist at 4:30 on Monday. He got me set up for lots of tests and surgeries for the rest of the week. The week was a blur of biopsies, lung draining, PET scans, stent placement, Hickman placement, ect. By Friday I was admitted into the hospital and started on chemo. Because of the aggressiveness of the cancer, I had to get chemo in the hospital. Apparently the chemo I need for the first 4 rounds is really harsh. Worse then the CHOP people talk about.
My official diagnosis: NON HODGKINS LYMPHOMA-T CELL TYPE STAGE 4. 95% of people with non-hodgkins lymphoma have B-cell type.