My sister kept having mysterious fevers and her glands would swell in her neck area. I went with her to her doctor appointments and at first they thought it might be her sinuses. They sent her to a specialist (oncologist) just a precaution. He felt the lumps in her neck and said she was too young to have cancer. She was 28 at the time.
Little by little she became increasing more ill until one day her stomach started to swell and she was having difficult time urinating. It turned out it was her bladder and not her stomach. At that time she began experiencing lower back pain. Again we made a trip to the doctor who was not too concerned and sent us on our way with antibiotics. They had performed a test, but wanted to start her on the meds to head off a supposed bladder infection.
Within the following days matters became much worse and she began to have numbness in her feet which progressed all the way up into her pelvic area. Back to the doctor again and this time xrays of her back were taken. The determination was a hair line fracture on her 9th vertebrat. So they rescheduled a follow up for two weeks again telling us not to be concerned. This was in mid December and as you well know most doctors are preparing to leave for holiday until after the first of the year.
Three days later while I was at work Pam called me to say she could not breath nor walk let alone stand up. I told her boyfriend to put her in the car and meet me at the emergency room. It was hours before we were seen and when we were seen they thought she was looking for pain meds. It was very frustrating and then they decided to take an xray. I waited in the loby with her boyfriend.
When the results came back a frantic doctor summoned me to the xray light board. He was shocked because her entire spine had collapsed and the 9th vertebrat was gone. They called in another specialist and brought us by ambulance at midnight to a hospital with an MRI machine. It took awhile and by 2am we were on our back by ambulance to Niceville.
When we arrived they admitted Pam into a room and it was very strange because the nurse that was attending us was crying. Then the PA came in and said the doctor wanted to see the family first thing in the morning. I thought ok she is going to have to have surgery to replace her damaged spine.
The next morning at 8am we were all there. When the doctor arrived he informed us that Pam had cancer because the MRI of the spine was lit up from to to bottom. The worse news was that when cancer appears in the spine it is usually the end result of it spreading from other parts of the body. In other words my 28 year old sister had 6 months if that to live. We were standing outside her hospital room and the oncologist was about to go in there and relay the news to her straight up. Immediately I sprang in front of the door and told him he would have to get through me to tell her this news. He would also need more than an MRI to prove to me and her family that she is terminal. He apologized and agreed to run more tests. Either way she was going to have to be life flighted for her spine either to the University of Alabama or to the University of Florida.
She was told she was very ill, but was not told she was terminal. Meanwhile they did a biopsy and took other cultures to try and determine which form of cancer she might have. They could narrow it down, but now pin point it, but by narrowing it down she may have more of a chance for recovery if she wasn't already paralyzed.
To be continued I am at work and will continue to tell the story in my diary posts. It is a wonderful story and has brought encouragement to others with this horrible illness.
