Post-Biopsy Update

Wow, that has got to be one of the least creative blog post titles I've ever come up with. Oh well!

So yeah, it's me, the frogg once again, taking over from the cowgirl who was so kind as to fill in for me the last couple of posts. I'm sure you'll hear more from her as well, but right now she is taking a nap. Being my secretary/people-buffer/chauffeur over the last few days seems to have tired her out—not to mention that the pay isn't really that great (i.e., I don't pay her).

This is just a quick update to say that I'm doing OK, mostly. Although my voice sounds like I swallowed about a dozen knives and then followed them up with some sort of corrosive, thanks to the biopsy/bronchoscopy procedure I had the other day. Good times... at least, I guess. I was asleep for it, so I wouldn't really know.

Thankfully, the docs did not confuse me with any of the (many) eye surgery patients. THAT was a big relief! Unfortunately, that relief was somewhat deflated by the words, "It does appear to be some type of lymphoma," which I heard upon awaking after the biopsy. Talk about a letdown.

On the plus side, I am suddenly extremely popular. (Er, not that I wasn't before, of course!)

ANYway...

I was discharged from the hospital last night and am now at home. Today I had a PET scan to see if there is any lymphoma anywhere else in my body. I have no idea what PET stands for. The cowgirl said it was something like Positron Blah Blah Imaging, but that doesn't make sense now that I look at it, because "Imaging" starts with an "I" and there is no "I" in PET, so clearly I was not paying any remote kind of attention at all when she was talking. Oops. And of course, I'm too lazy to Google it, so if you find out, you can tell me. What I know is, it's kind of a cool test. They led me into a cozy little room with mood lighting and a huge leather La-Z-Boy , injected a radioactive isotope into my body (they actually brought it into the room in a lead box, no joke), and then gave me a blanket and basically told me to take a nap for 45 minutes! Sweet.

The part I didn't like as much was after the 45 minutes or so was up, I had to lie on my back with my arms over my head while they put me through a CT scanner. The problem was, the incision on my neck makes putting my arms over my head a little uncomfortable, and they told me I'd have to lie like that without moving for 21 minutes! I have to admit I whined a little about that. So then they said they'd get it down to 17.5 minutes. Woo-hoo! See, sometimes it pays to complain.

I have an appointment with my oncologist tomorrow, at which point I should know more about the test results from both the biopsy and the PET scan, and have more definitive information about what's next. Thanks to all who have expressed their love and support over these past few days. It means more to me than I can tell you!

With kisses from the frogg princess...