Congrats Sue. This thread is especially pertinant to me since the Memsahib is a breast cancer survivor. She had a high stage three by the time it was discovered and the prognosis was lousy.
But she endured the chemo and radiation and their attendant effects and recovered. Her hair grew back and her energy returned.(groan)
Then, last Feb., she noticed a lump on a rib just below the collar bone. They did x-rays and a bone scan. No cancer on the bone, but there was an anomaly on the x-ray in one lung. The cat-scan showed only some enlarged lymph nodes in her chest so a pet-scan was ordered. For those unfamiliar with this scan,it traces the metabolization of glucose. It seems that tumors really suck up the glucose. The pet-scan showed a tumor and the oncologist said that she had cancer, the only thing was, they didn't know what kind so they didn't know how to treat is.
Two needle biopsies later, they still didn't know so they decided to go into the thorasic cavity and remove the largest lymph node. This was done and the surgeon carried the node up to pathology. The pathologist cut it open, took a look and said,"there's no cancer in here."
Turns out she has a disease call sarcoidia -an auto-immune disease- and the nodules act just like cancerous tumors in a pet-scan.
We learned this on May 1, which was our 20th anniversary. Best damn present I ever got.
During this time, we participated in a 24 hr. cancer walk in Williston, Fl, the town where she teaches. It was meaningful then. It is more meaningful now, when I think of how she was mentally preparing to go through the whole thing again.
These fund raisers are vital. God bless everyone who helps.troll