TheFlo2
New User
Joined: 26 Jan 2006
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:15 pm Post subject: My Story! Help me! |
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Imagine not being able to hold your healthy newborn daughter a month after she is born. Precious moments of a new life and an experience taken from you with the situation completely out of your hands.
This is something I had to live with only four months ago. My first child, Mayden Alissa, was born on August 5, 2005. One month later, I found myself in the hospital fighting for my own life.
On Dec. 4, 2004 I received both the best and worst news I could ever imagine. My girlfriend of four months was going to give birth to our first child. Later that same day, I was also informed by doctors that I had developed thyroid cancer.
Learning that I had cancerous lymph nodes after the results from a biopsy, I was placed on disability from my job as a member service representative to begin full cancer treatment.
In January 2005, I went in for my second surgery to remove the rest of my lymph nodes. However, with the remaining cancer creeping up my skull, my doctors informed me that it would be too dangerous to attempt to eliminate all the malignancy without risk of damaging brain nerves or experiencing a loss in motor skills. At the end, 95 percent of the cancer was removed. With the some of the cancer still in my body, I began radiation therapy.
I went into radiation therapy between March and April of 2005. These two months were the most difficult I had ever gone through as I began to experience classic side effects from the treatment. This included a complete loss of taste, weight loss, coughing up blood, fatigue, hair loss, skin discoloration and a blistered throat. Along with my physical ailments, I was also falling into a severe depression as I wondered why something like this was happening to me.
After seven weeks of intense radiation, my spirits were broken yet again when doctors told me the treatment did not kill the rest of the cancer, but had in fact actually spread to my liver.
With another barrier set before me, I tried to put it in the back of my mind as my newborn daughter entered into the world on the first Friday morning in August 2005. There was nothing else I wanted and needed more than to hold my daughter at this point in my life. With her on my side, my adorable angel, I knew I could beat anything. However, because the radiation had weakened parts of my body, including my arms, I was unable to carry her like I wanted.
In September 2005, I returned to the hospital for my third surgery. This time, multiple doctors worked for four vigorous hours and were able to remove what was left of the cancer in my neck. They were, however, not able to move forward with the surgery on my liver because the amount of tumors they would have had to remove would have been too drastic. Also, because the cancer had spread, doctors informed me that I did not qualify for liver transplant.
To top it off, this surgery paralyzed the right side of my vocal chords preventing me from speaking normal and keeping me from several passions of my life – singing, basketball, football.
Since doctors could not remove the cancer from my liver, they then referred me to M.D. Anderson, a cancer care clinic in Houston, Texas. They told me that the best step forward would be for me to participate in a clinical trial where I would take medication to hopefully stop the cancer cells from dividing and spreading once again.
Making this new road a harder one to travel, I was released from my job because I did not qualify for job protection, because I was unable to work due to disability and constant doctor visits. The company had to let me go because I did not work the minimum hours needed so my job could be saved. Needless to say the road has been difficult, with a new baby and medical bills beginning to pile up.
Although I am on disability, I have never been one to just sit and do nothing. Instead, I decided to create www.myownblockparty.com in hopes of making good use of my time and also doing something for a just cause. Along with garnering income from this site to pay off my medical debt, I am working closely beside the American Cancer Society and will be donating 15 percent of everything received from this site towards cancer research, because hearing, "There are no other options." is by far the worst thing one can hear that is experiencing something like this. My goal is to aide, by any means necessary, in cancer research so doctors will gladly be able to say, "There is another option!" |
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brainman
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Oct 2005
Posts: 3949
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:00 pm Post subject: Re: My Story! Help me! |
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TheFlo, you are a courageous person! It is nor easy to have to avoid people… especially contact with your own children. Many of us have been there. I was there when chemo therapy dropped my white blood cell count to below 1.
Like you, I did not want to simply give in. You are doing something through the ACS and our organization. I am trying to help through this forum. Not only does it help me to get my mind off of the cancer (believe it our not, it happens), but it gives my an outlet for the “helper” inside of me.
I wish you Health.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/ |
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