Hard Pressed but Not Crushed

(this is a crosspost from my new blog. I'd be happy to give any of my readers here access--it is a private blog--just leave a comment here with your email address and I will add you to the access list) 

Hard to believe I am starting a new blog, but, I think this will be the simplest way to keep people up to speed on the latest. I know many of you want more information, so hopefully this will be a place to find it.

So what's happened? The week after Mark and I ran the Seattle half marathon (Nov. 27th), Mark found a lump on his neck. We assumed it was a swollen lymph node, which it was. Swollen lymph nodes can be caused by numerous things: bacterial infections, mono, viruses, TB or lymphoma. Mark was not sick nor had any symptoms that pointed to anything. He saw a specialist the week of December 5th, and he took a needle biopsy to determine if the swollen lymph node was a result of a metastasized cancer from the thyroid or another area of the body. He also started on a round of antibiotics in case it was an infection. We were sure it was just an infection. The needle biopsy came back showing that there were atypical cells, but that there were no signs of metastasized malignancy, but the Dr. wanted to surgically remove the node so that the diagnosis was more conclusive. We took this to mean that there was no cancer at all (it was nice to assume that for two weeks because we didn't worry much). On December 20th, Mark had the enlarged lymph node removed under general anesthesia. We received word the next day that the diagnosis was pointing toward Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We were shocked, but oddly calm about it.

Mark identified a wonderful oncologist, who will be managing his care. The next steps are to identify the stage of his lymphoma and determine the course of treatment. He has a PET scan this afternoon at 2pm to determine if and where the cancer has spread. We are praying that it is localized in the one area of nodes where the enlarged node was found. Tomorrow we will meet with a different oncologist since our regular guy is on vacation, to (we hope) find out the results of the PET scan and see what Mark's options for treatment are. If it is early stage (I or II) then it will likely be a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. If it is later stage, it will probably be chemotherapy alone. Though I can speculate about the length of treatment based on what I've read, I will spare you all my speculations since we should know much more tomorrow and I can update you then.

Fortunately, Hodgkin's is a very treatable, even curable cancer. With very high survival rates, we are hopeful that we will make it through this journey together and come out better on the other side of it. We know it is going to be a very rough year for us--it sort of feels like we are about to start an IronMan without any training. We are so thankful for the outpouring of support, prayers, encouragement, offers for help and more over the last week. We will definitely need help once Mark starts treatment and we figure out what those needs are. I will likely post  a link to a calendar of our needs here on this blog later on.

Emotionally, this has been a rollercoaster for us already. Some days we feel very hopeful, other days I feel like I've been punched in the stomach all day. It's all part of processing this, and I'm grateful that I'm allowing myself to do that--so that I can better support Mark as his primary caregiver down the road.

For now, please pray and/or hope that it's stage I or II.

I won't be updating this blog with daily news about Mark since I have the other blog for that purpose. So, if you want to follow along with our journey with cancer, please let me know by commenting or sending me an email so I can add you to the access list. I will however, be posting some pictures of the kids from December, because even though it was a roller coaster, there were some definite highs to help balance out the low-lows.