Back in 19…. (OK, 84!), I was a reporter at my first television station in Abilene, Texas. For my birthday, my parents gave me a day with a performance consultant. She was going to polish my self-admittedly raw skills and accelerate my improvement. After a half-day with her, she told me that there were many…
Chapter II
In September of 2013, doctors diagnosed me with a malignant 5cm mass, discovered during a regularly-scheduled MRI (which I have as part of my follow-up from a 2001-2002 breast cancer battle). After surgery and tests, I learned that I had thymic carcinoma -- a rare and fast-growing cancer of the Thymus gland. Usually, it’s not diagnosed until it’s already spread to the lungs, heart, or other places, because it can be fairly symptomless. I was blessed, as my oncologist said, that my regular MRIs helped catch it early. My outlook would have been much worse if this had been discovered months later.
I am documenting my journey through Cancer Part II in the hopes that it will educate and inspire others who are facing a difficult diagnosis. In the days after I left the hospital, I sat down with my colleagues at Growing Bolder to share my thoughts on this new challenge. As we say -- I am Surviving & Thriving.
Update, the Primaries Edition
My heart is racing. Not over the political primaries; that mostly has my brain exploding. I have a new side effect, but I’m not sure what it’s a side effect OF. I have Tachycardia, rapid heart rate, which may require yet another drug for the side effect of a side effect of treatment. Is it…
It is not Definitely Not Working (Not much of this cancer stuff makes sense to me either)
So as not to bury my lead and to help you try to decipher the title of this post, the headline is that I am still in the PHA clinical trial at Georgetown. I now (probably) know what (most of) my future holds (for the next 6 weeks). Last time I saw Dr Giaccone, he…
Just Checking in
An interesting element to these clinical trials is you really don’t know what to expect (see: Keytruda=>Diabetes). Today, I finished the second drug cycle of my new PHA trial, and I’m starting to understand the rhythm of it. Again, it’s 7 days on, 7 days off, then back to Georgetown. So far, the side effects…
PHA-848125AC
That combination of letters and numbers is the code for the clinical trial that I am finally in, after 4 or 5 tries. I shouldn’t actually be in it; my liver enzymes are still about three times what they should be, but Dr Giaccone got the ok from the drug company in Italy. They made…
Hey Sugar, Sugar
It’s funny (odd, not haha) that as much as I know about many kinds of medical, health, and wellness issues, I am for all intents and purposes, fairly ignorant of some of the most common ailments. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. The learning curve on this Diabetes has been Alpe d’Huez…