day 1: official cancer patient. Scary!

It got real!

The early bird gets the worm, at least that's what my mom, a.k.a the gestapo, thought as she police banged on our door this morning! I have to admit, if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times........she's right!  We waltzed in just in the nick of time! As we took in our surroundings it got real for all of us. This was a cancer hospital and a massive one at that. MD Anderson didn't occupy 1 high rise building,  but multiple high rise buildings that stretched out as far as the eye could see. I am a cancer patient. Yikes! As scary as that was to say, I didn't feel as isolated as I had as I was coming to terms with it in the days prior. These buildings were filled with thousands of people just like me. Many of which had smiles on their faces. I had been told that this was the place to be and now I felt it. As the day progressed this fact became even more apparent.
We visited every floor of the hospital for every test imaginable and rarely waited more than 10 minutes. These people were efficient! Day 1 was registration, financial (exactly how many of my children would they be taking as payment), blood work, ekg,  pulmonary function test, and chest xray. All went smoothly. Dr. W (the big man in charge) and his team also spent a great deal of time talking to us.

The news: (for the concerned fam at home)
Not much new. They just confirmed what the docs back home just couldn't believe but we knew and have come to terms with,  it is cancer. Their plan is to do another bronch this week to biopsy the lymph nodes to stage it and proceed with treatment. The reason being is that the stage will determine the order of events. Early stage= surgery then chemo. Mid stage= chemo then surgery. After much thought about it we decided that the docs can concern themselves with stages.....our focus will be doing whatever it is we have to to get well....we don't need a stage for that. But if you insist......we'll create one: stage KICK CANCER'S ASS ;) Unfortunately this delays our return plans a little. We're here for at least the week. :(

One last test was ordered before our day was over and it was an MRI....dunh dunh dunh! Don't worry, I didn't freak out and try to claw my way out of the tube like you ( and I) would expect.  I sailed through the process with a little help from my friend..... ativan. What MRI? :)

Today's hurdles:
-being catapulted into reality
-realizing it would be a little longer before I'd see brandt and the kiddos
-admitting that our golden corral lunch was tasty,

Today's jewels:
-family by my side *thanks mom, dad, aunt kathy and of course aunt deb
-1 step closer to putting this all behind us
-meeting Yolanda at the pulm function test, her bright smile, positive attitude, and encouraging spirit put our day on a completely different path. People come into your life when you need it most.
- making it through the MRI without looking like a crazy person!
-skyping with brandt and the kids

Jewels out number the hurdles. SCORE!

The Posse

Massive!

ativan and I preparing for the 

MRI......notice the smile :) he had kicked in!