My doctor called at 9 p.m. tonight to give me the results of my bone scan and CT done earlier today. The results we're very good. Things are stable and there is no new cancer growth. However, during the CT, they found a blood clot in my neck. Likely this is due to my chemo port, which connects into the vein in my neck. My doctor was obviously concerned and wanted me to go to the emergency room for an ultrasound and MRI of my brain. After that I'll be given blood thinners, something that makes me feel truly old (the only people I've known on blood thinners have been 65 years and older).
So here I am at the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital, hooked up to an IV, blood work done, waiting to be taken to the MRI. I arrived here at 10:30 p.m. and it is now 1:41 a.m. Not bad in emergency room terms.
I think most people would be very disturbed by this development, but I am not really shaken. Compared to the terror of the cancer spreading further into my body, a small blood clot that can be dissolved with blood thinners seems almost mundane.
I am just happy to have the stable scans. As I was telling someone earlier, having a diagnosis of stage IV cancer is somewhat similar to being a prisoner on death row. The scans are like a governor-provided reprieve from the chair. So now that the governor has called, and said don't take her to the chair yet, I'll get back to trading cigarettes with the other inmates. As long as I have three hots and a cot, along with TV, I'm good.
I guess all that knocking on wood to ward off the cancer worked. And believe me I am happy for the reprieve. Thanks, guv.
