Not a blogger, am I? Important update, however.

Well, folks, nothing like wating for something important to blog about. I'll get right to the point, but please read all the way through before you get too concerned.

Back in May, my wife noticed a lump under my chin, kind of in the area between the front of the neck and back of the chin. A quick trip to the family doctor told me it was a swollen lymph node. This can be caused by a few things- infection or cancer. Maybe some more, I don't remember any past those two.

The family doctor sent me to a surgeon for evaluation. He was pretty sure it wasn't cancer. He thought it was some sort of long drawn out name, basically an infection in some sort of tube in my neck that caused the lymph nodes there to overreact. So they came out and got sent off for testing, just to make sure it wasn't cancer.

About 3 weeks later, the results did show lymphoma (cancer). Needless to say, we were a bit frightened. I am only 35 yrs old. Somewhat unusual for someone my age.Didn't know what type yet. (didn't find out till later there are less aggressive types of lymphoma).

A referral to an oncologist soon followed, and that is where I found out that I have a non-hodgkins lymphoma. Specifically I have what's called follicular lymphoma, along with another type, called marginal lymphoma. (Also found out that Iowa and /or Nebraska are the 2 leading states for occurance of more than one type of lymphoma.)

After some more testing (bone marrow test (OUCH) cat scan, PET scan, we were releived to find no other cancer in any other part of me. It is confined to 2 small areas in my chin/neck.

TREATMENT

Since this is not an aggressive form of cancer, there is some debate among doctors about what treatment is recommended (if any!) My oncologist said this is a very slow growing type of cancer, I could be fine for years before any symptoms show up. However, my wife and I decided I should  go through with the radiation treatments, to get this nipped now and not have to worry aobut it in the future.

Luckily, my rad treatments are low dosage. About 1/2 the dose used for other types of head/neck cancers. I am currently over halfway through my 15 treatments. And I can't wait to be done! They don't take long, only 15 minutes per treatment at the most. The part that I don't like is the hard plastic mask they have to use to clamp my head to the table. This is to insure I am lined up exactly the same each time and so I can't move during treatment.

I may post pictures of it if I decide to keep it, but I'm not sure about that yet.

This is a general overview of my situation so far, if you want to know anything specific I will do my best to let you know.  I guess to sum it all up, this is not the worst form of cancer to have. I could be a lot worse off, and we were fortunate that a lymp node in a visible area started swelling first-we caught it early.

PS to my clans-this is the main reason I haven't been online much lately...have to get to bed early for the 7:30 AM procedure, and I do get a little fatigued from the treatments.