How I got there from here. Part 4

Yes, this is such a long story there is a part 4 and be warned; there will be a part 5 and probably 6!

The results of my biopsy came sooner than expected. I was told by the women's center to expect a call in a couple of days. The very next afternoon I got a call from Dr. Abdulla. Since it was Dr. Abdulla I didn't think it was about the biopsy results. I expected the results of his further testing on the fluid. But instead he gave it to me in a blast. I was sitting here with my son and had the doctor on the phone expecting to hear that "inconclusive" thing. Instead I got "it is just as I thought it was, you have very bad cancer…" huh? He got the biopsy result? Yes, he did. And he "was right."

I could hardly say much—what do you do when your 4 year old son is in your lap and someone says "I was right, you have cancer?" I pressed some for details—what did they find? "Cancer in both areas, breast and lymph and I believe you have it in your lung too, it's a very aggressive tumor." I asked if he found that in his tests and he backed up a bit... "No, those were inconclusive but this is consistent with what I see in these cases..." But it didn't show on your tests... "But it's consistent." So I say "but it's fixable right?" He bluntly says, "no.” “But, if we get right on it we can give you some good time." Again I say, “I mean, you can get rid of it right?” He says, "no." What do you mean "no?" He says again, "we can give you some good time." Then he says that he is going to set some appointments for me with the best cancer specialist and surgeon etc, etc. I agreed… I just wanted him off the phone. I still couldn't believe it. And I couldn't really react. I was alone with my son… what do you do? What does "good time" mean? I was too scared to ask. I was frozen and numb.

I sent Linda a text message and she offered to come over later on that night with Lee and help me make some sense of it all. I was completely in shock. They came over after Lee got off work that night. Linda distracted Smokey for a little while and Lee helped me sort out my thoughts. What an unbelievable blow. All I could think about was my son. I could not believe that any God would take me from my son. It was a tough night.

The next morning I got a call from Claudia. She was going to give me the results of my tests. Odd eh? I told her Dr. Abdulla already called me and I was worried about what it all meant. She seemed distressed that he had called me before her. She went into much greater detail about the findings. Yes, they had found cancer in both areas. But, she said I was a "stage 2" and that is was very "fixable". She painted a much more positive picture than he had. She explained that they were going to "present my tumor at a tumor board on Wednesday"... what was that? did I have to be there? Huh? There is a tumor board?

She went on to explain that at the Huntsman Cancer center, named for the famous Utah billionaire who funded it, John Huntsman, they gather up all of the cancer specialists in the area from the local hospitals and without giving away names or personal details, they give all the findings from the tests and let each specialist explain what treatment they would suggest. Then in a few days time I would get to meet with them and they would go over those options with me and I could choose which way I wanted to be treated. That sounded so good to me. I was in control of my treatment and I was getting the benefit of all of the specialists in the area in one fell swoop. I felt immediately comfortable with this idea. Plus, she said I was "fixable." Whew.

She reminded me of my MRI appointment which was coming up. They wanted the results of that before the board met. The tumor board was scheduled to meet the morning after the MRI.

To read more about the Huntsman Cancer Center visit www.hunstmancancer.org. I am lucky that they also work out of the hospital that is near me.

To read a little about Jon Huntsman, this is a short article about him and his work http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,270019062,00.html.