on the edge of panic

i have been on the edge of panic for nearly 2 weeks now. ever since i noticed the first lump. there are things that help. sometimes ativan, but I like to leave that as a last resort because so many thing are going on in my body, it is already hard to keep them straight.

distractions help. warcrack has been great when i can play it. writing is helping right now. people have been staying with me every day. i am lucky to have people that care about me like that. I don’t always completely understand why they do, considering that i am antisocial and often suck at returning emails. phone calls are even worse. my parents are coming on sunday. k is there for me always. i don’t know why i get to be this lucky, but i have never been more thankful for it than i am now.

i called the clinic the night i found the lump. Or maybe K did. The triage nurse decided I was worthy to see a doctor and said to come in the next day. The appt. was at 10am. They told me to come at 9:45.

While I was walking over there, I was thinking about what i would want to do if i found out something really bad. i believe that no matter how hard you try to think positively, it is impossible to keep your mind from going to the worst places. First i thought amsterdam w/k, but then got suddenly panicked. no. it is too far away. i want to be with the rest of my family too.

I got there at 9:45 and waited until 10:45 to see a doctor for 5 minutes. He sent me to get some chest x-rays and said to come right back and he would see me again. I got back with my x-rays and waited another half hour. The doc says, “I don’t read these very often, but it looks normal to me.” Thanks doc. He comes back with a nurse to give me a breast exam. He thinks he feels another lump there but is not sure so schedules blood tests and a mammogram and tells me to come back in 2 weeks.

I was too freaked out to wait at the clinic for the appointments and told the receptionist to call me.

i leave. cry. call k. k cries. k comes home.
we are both very very scared. sorry k. always something isn’t it?

had a fever for a while and had to go to the ER and get IV and more blood tests. all blood tests have been normal so far. mammogram was good too. Apparently normal blood tests are a bad thing because they are ruling out other possible causes.

K came with me to the doc to get test results and that is when he told us that he thinks I most likely have lymphoma as mentioned in the previous post. I started writing this post on the day I first went to the clinic, but then was not able to look at it again until now. There is still a chance it is not something terrible. We are all hoping for cat scratch fever which has amazingly similar symptoms to lymphoma.

The doc told us that the first lump would be removed at the biopsy, which was supposed to be tomorrow. It now appears that tomorrow’s appointment is only a consultation with the doc who will be doing the biopsy. Today, I was supposed to get a blood smear, but they had to call the doc with questions about the test and it was over half an hour and they still hadn’t heard back and they kept saying it would be soon or that i was next, but kept calling other names. I wasn’t feeling very well. Completely exhausted and starting to panic. Finally I couldn’t handle being there any more and left with my friend Nancy who had kindly taken me to the appointment and is now in the other room while I am trying to sleep which is proving to be impossible.

This is crazy. Too crazy. I can manage not to completely panic most of the time, to have a very positive attitude some of the time, to get distracted a bunch of the time, but i don’t really know how to stop this edge of panic thing. last time it happened, i took ativan and it worked. i will probably end up taking one soon if writing doesn’t work. it has helped to not be alone. susan came over all day yesterday. tc came at night and susan decided to stay too. k took tomorrow and friday off. nancy is here now. tc is coming back on thursday and maybe tess too. d is coming over on sunday. my folks are coming on sunday night. lorena is helping us to decode medical speak and giving us good questions to ask at the consultation tomorrow. thanks everybody.

Whatever this turns out to be, I will fight it. It is what I do and what I have always done. It is my way.

Thanks to everyone who has left such nice comments and sent emails and have been coming over to babysit me while all this is going on. i appreciate it more than i can say even if i don’t respond individually. i am kind of low on energy at the moment.

I will still have hope that it is a really bad virus or cat scratch fever. Just because the doc was so glum doesn’t necessarily mean he is right. His face and his attitude made me way more scared than I think I otherwise would have been, but after reading around on the internet (not my best idea), I may have ended up just as freaked out anyway. I am thankful for his honesty even if it is making it harder to think positively. I suppose that will make my cat scratch fever diagnosis all the more sweet.

5 thoughts on “on the edge of panic”

  1. I’m so sorry. you must be–there isnt a word for it. Terrified/panicky/etc are all beyond justified. Good luck with the doctors and MAKE them listen to you (and talk to you) as theyd want themselves/their significant others treated.

    Hoping for cat scratch fever, too…

    Reply
  2. Sweetie,
    Even though I am scared too, I am your partner/friend/advocate/care-giver, anything you need I am here for you and as you know this and that your friends and family are here for you too. This doesn’t take away the panic and fear, I know. But you will not be alone in “this” whatever it is. And I am still holding out for the cat scratch fever. 🙂

    Reply
  3. you *are* a complete survivor; i’ve always been astounded at the things you’ve been handed, and you continue to roll with it, keepin’ on keepin’ on. you know how they say if there’s a nuclear war and most everyone is killed, still certain insects would survive? check this out: bee:insect. i regard you as one of those mighty creatures that will survive things no one else could possibly handle. possibly you do have extraterrestrial blood in you, and that makes you superhuman. i bow in awe of you. =)

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