It's been quite a while since I updated this blog. I've been pretty busy trying to keep up my normal routine while dealing with the side effects of treatment. A lot has happened since I last wrote. For an update on my treatment, which involves an immunotherapy trial, see the January 2015 update on the About My Diagnosis page.
According to Stupid Cancer, 72,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year. Now I am not very good at math, nor do I claim to know anywhere near 72,000 people, but within my circle of friends, it seems like the real number of young adults with cancer is even higher. Including myself, there are four of us who have known each other since we were teenagers, who have or had cancer.
Three years ago, one of my friends was diagnosed with stage III HER2+ Inflammatory Breast Cancer. A vibrant, busy, mother of two, and successful professional, it was a shock to all of us. Our community of friends rallied behind her and her family. She underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. After two years of maintaining a status of No Evidence of Disease, thanks in large part to infusions of Herceptin every three weeks, her cancer metastasized to her brain. She underwent whole brain radiation with good results and continues to treat her now stage IV cancer with Herceptin infusions.
A little less than two years ago, one of my very close friends, at age 38 was diagnosed with stage I uterine cancer. We were shocked that two people in our group of friends could have cancer. Who gets cancer in their thirties? She had a total hysterectomy, including thirty lymph nodes, and now regards herself as having 'had" cancer, even though she's still a little short of that magic two years without cancer mark. Of course, having a total hysterectomy in your thirties creates all sorts of other problems that young adults should not have to deal with, putting your body into complete menopause overnight. Her cancer also tested positive for Lynch Syndrome, although her blood work does not and she does not have the family history of cancer that comes with Lynch. The geneticists don't quite know what to make of her, but she now has to undergo the lengthy panel of annual tests that go with Lynch. She also mystifies doctors, being young and not overweight, and very active, it makes no sense that she developed uterine cancer. About two months after her hysterectomy, we had a party with a uterus shaped pinata that I made, so we could beat the crap out of cancer.
Less than six months after that, I was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer at the age of 35. You can read all about my diagnosis and treatment elsewhere on this site. I've posted before about the "how's and why's" of my cancer. It is all due to genetics in my case, a genetic mutation that gave me an 80% chance of developing stomach cancer, most likely at a young age. To say that our community of friends was rocked by a third cancer diagnosis of a friend in her thirties is an understatement.
Then, this week, another friend, from this same group of people, had his left testicle removed due to what is most likely (90%) testicular cancer. Now he is 40, so in the cancer world he is technically not a young adult, but this is still shocking and it brought me to really question what percentage of young adults has cancer. How many of us are there?
As I stated above, I'm not very good at math and I loathe statistics. And I feel like this is the point where I would normally begin to sum up my thoughts with some sort of conclusion that would make sense of all this. But I have no conclusion. And this doesn't make sense.
Stupid Cancer.
So I have a question, I have been referred to a hematologist at the age of 32. While I'm not going to worry myself to death, I know I am being referred to this hematologist for what my doctor says checking for a form of leukemia. My blood tests were fairly normal with the exception of elevated wbc count and all absolute counts were high. Lymphocytes being the highest. I've had extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, joint and bone pains that painkillers don't help. Night sweats, pains that I swear are in my liver area. And a list that goes on. Oh the bruising but platelets while normal are near the low end of normal. Not hungry and if I do get an appetite it's not much I ingest. Lost and confused honestly. Lump in neck. Not painful. Stomach problems for years egd confirmed suspicious mass in stomach but never followed up . And a tumor that was found in 2012 in my left breast that wasn't removed want to monitor tumor in breast due to being benign. I'm at a loss of words and very confused. Advice would be very helpful if at all possible.
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