The "C" Word

How did we get here?  The "C" word? The husband and I seem to have told the story countless times since last Thursday.  But that happens when a lightning bolt strikes and no one saw it coming.  We figured it would be easiest to recount the past month here.  That way the story doesn't get construed, everyone will be all up to speed and perhaps we don't have to keep retelling it.  We'll just give you the blog address. ;)  

December 6th- The husband FINALLY went to the doctor after me nagging for a month.  It was for some stomach issue.  I figured he had an ulcer or something.  His doctor had retired so he saw the new doc.  She had him take an X-ray of his abdomen.  Well she didn't like what she saw (turns out she did the x-ray wrong) so he was sent to the hospital for a CT scan.  We spent all afternoon doing the CT scan to find there was nothing wrong with his abdomen.  But they did find a "spot" on his left hip.

December 9th- The husband talked to the primary care doctor and she referred him to the orthopedic doc that he had seen before for his shoulder.

December 11th- The husband met with the orthopedic doc to go over his CT scan.  Dr said the spot was not something he could deal with, it needed to be checked out by a bone cancer specialist and referred the husband to The Bone and Joint Institute.

December 18th- We met with Dr. Ward.  He ordered another CT scan, a biopsy and a full body bone scan. Once we got those results, we would know more of what we were dealing with and how to treat it.

December 23rd- We spent the day at the hospital.  First thing in the morning, he had an upper chest CT scan.  Then he went in for his biopsy.  After that, I got him over to the bone scan.

January 2nd- Met with Dr. Ward for the results of the tests.  He said the upper CT scan looked good.  Nothing on it that he was worried about.  The full body scan didn't show any bone abnormalities.  However, the biopsy results were not as positive.  The husband's hip tumor is cancerous.  It's called a plasmocytoma.  Basically, it is a malignant plasma cell tumor growing within his hip bone.  We have to rule out multiple myeloma though.  Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow.  It causes plasma cells to reproduce uncontrollably.  So we must figure out if this is an isolated tumor or if it is throughout his system.

The next step....a bone marrow biopsy.  We have not received the appointment for that yet.  We'll be calling first thing Monday to see what the hold up is.  Once that is completed, we'll know exactly what we're dealing with and start a treatment plan.  If it's the one plasmocytoma, he will undergo radiation.

We very much appreciate all the kind words and support we've received.  We'll take all your prayers, good juju and positive thoughts you send our way!