I'm sitting here listening to the tornado siren go off and it's about 45 minutes before I'm supposed to teach piano lessons. I think maybe I should cancel. What do you think? I guess it depends on what the families want to say about their lives when they are all over (maybe sooner than later).
"I rode in the back seat of the car and watched a tornado chase me the whole way to piano lessons!"
"Well sonny, I went to piano even if there was a threat of tornado so you can go to piano during an earthquake so GET IN THE CAR!"
"I got in the car and the tornado took me from my garage right into my piano teachers house without even starting the engine. It was a wild ride, but an expensive lesson due to the car smashing a huge hole in the side of Mrs. Becky's house."
Maybe being able to say that piano lessons were canceled because of a tornado will be good enough!? I know I can't say that about my childhood!
Becky
Friday, June 6, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Blessings
I have so many good friends here in Illinois that make this a lot easier for me. Sundee brought me yogurt, bananas and kiefer when I had my allergic reaction to the antibiotic, and helped me laugh at my rash that covered my whole body. Jolynn drove me to the clinic and waited with me for 4 hours! She even volunteered to take me back on the day of surgery. Kim has been a good friend to talk to and laugh with when I'm feeling stressed. She has no idea what a strength she has been to me. Sean has been my personal comedian during chiropractic sessions and helped my bones feel better than they have felt in ten years. Melanie has watched my children during EVERY appointment (Even during the summer when she has had four children of her own. That makes eight children folks!) and been my shoulder to cry on and by buddy to laugh with.
I also have a great family that has been very supportive. It's a shame that we don't live closer to each other, but I have felt their prayers in my behalf. I have a great father-in-law who, during the early stages, would call almost everyday for an update. I have a great mother-in-law who has been an ear to talk to and a example of endurance when life throws you a curve ball. My mom, of course, has been a light to me my whole life. She has shown me what to do with adverity and trial. My Dad has been an example of enduring physical pain and made me be thankful that this little tumor is not something more serious. He also wrote me a poem that made me cry and laugh all in the same breath:
B9 tumor - sounds like battleship.
I think they're just trying to get under your skin!
Everybody wants a piece of Becky.
To doctors, people with insurance are special!
To us you have always been special!
And we want all of you - not just a piece.
We're not trying to get under your skin.
And if you want to play battleship - we promise not to hurt you.
Normally I don't get a lot of family out this way to visit because it's easier to bring our family to Utah to see everyone than for everyone in Utah to come see us. But last month or so I've had my cousins and aunt come (way out of their way) to visit us. They were taking a Church History Tour of sorts and detoured from Nauvoo to our house. I also had my brother-in-law (Kevin), his daughter (Erin) and two of my brothers (Jaydan and Joel) come out for about a week. We stayed up late laughing and working on Kevin's house. What a blessing laughter is! It can lift the heaviest load.
Most of all I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who is mindful of me and has seen fit to not give me cancer. I feel like he is in charge and I know he loves me.
I also have a great family that has been very supportive. It's a shame that we don't live closer to each other, but I have felt their prayers in my behalf. I have a great father-in-law who, during the early stages, would call almost everyday for an update. I have a great mother-in-law who has been an ear to talk to and a example of endurance when life throws you a curve ball. My mom, of course, has been a light to me my whole life. She has shown me what to do with adverity and trial. My Dad has been an example of enduring physical pain and made me be thankful that this little tumor is not something more serious. He also wrote me a poem that made me cry and laugh all in the same breath:
B9 tumor - sounds like battleship.
I think they're just trying to get under your skin!
Everybody wants a piece of Becky.
To doctors, people with insurance are special!
To us you have always been special!
And we want all of you - not just a piece.
We're not trying to get under your skin.
And if you want to play battleship - we promise not to hurt you.
Normally I don't get a lot of family out this way to visit because it's easier to bring our family to Utah to see everyone than for everyone in Utah to come see us. But last month or so I've had my cousins and aunt come (way out of their way) to visit us. They were taking a Church History Tour of sorts and detoured from Nauvoo to our house. I also had my brother-in-law (Kevin), his daughter (Erin) and two of my brothers (Jaydan and Joel) come out for about a week. We stayed up late laughing and working on Kevin's house. What a blessing laughter is! It can lift the heaviest load.
Most of all I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who is mindful of me and has seen fit to not give me cancer. I feel like he is in charge and I know he loves me.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A Name Change
I saw Dr. Fosko today along with a resident and a nurse. Maybe to clarify I should say they saw me. They saw nearly every inch of me. You know, there are very few people that can get away with that and not get slapped. The nurse took a picture of my tumor, the doctors stuck their fingers in my armpit and other places checking my lymph nodes, and I got asked rounds of questions including, "How can I get underwear like that?"
As for the diagnosis they say that it is a dermatofibroma (DF) spindle cell tumor. I looked up dermatofibroma and here's what I found. This does not cover the spindle cell tumor part of it. DF occurs more commonly in females with a male to female ratio of 1:4. It can occur in patients of any age but 20% occur before 17 years of age. Characteristics are pain and itching. DF forms most commonly on your legs, but second most commonly on your limbs. Historically it is believed to be caused by arthropod bites, however the cause of DF is unknown. Color can range from "gray, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, blue, brown, or black, or a combination of hues." I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a green. I mean, come on, if you're going to cover everything else I think green is going to feel left out.
I also found this interesting bit of information about the spindle cell type of DF:
"Immunohistochemical testing with antibodies to factor XIIIa is frequently positive in DF, while antibodies to MAC 387 show less consistent results. The former antibody labels fibroblasts (dermal dendrocytes), while the latter labels monocyte-derived macrophages (histiocytes). Controversy exists as to whether the factor XIIIa positivity occurs within the actual tumor cells of DF or simply labels the reactive stromal cells; hence, the cell of origin for the spindle cell proliferation of DF is debatable. The cell surface proteoglycan, syndecan-1, may play a role in the growth of DF. Transforming growth factor-beta signaling might be a trigger of the fibrosis seen in DF."
Do you understand that? Yeah, me neither! No, basically I understood that they have no idea which cell type the dermatofibroma starts in in the spindle cell tumors. But that's really a pretty useless piece of information isn't it?
Here's an interesting fact.
"Factor XIIIa requires calcium as a cofactor."
See, Chris might be right about it being a calcium deposit.
I will be having Slow Mohs Surgery on the 14th of July. Regular Mohs Surgery conserves as much of the normal tissue as possible, but Slow Mohs Surgery is a little more aggressive. They will be removing a sizable portion of skin and it will not be sutured shut. YUM! They will send the tissue off to the pathologists and they will determine if the tumor has been completely removed. If there are still missing pieces to the puzzle I will go back and undergo Slow Mohs Surgery again, and again, and again until the tumor is completely gone. Some people go in once and some come back over and over again. I hope I'm the before mentioned. After all the tumor has been removed they will do reconstructive surgery. Until then I will have a huge (okay so maybe it won't be that big) hole under my arm. That should arouse some interest!
As for the diagnosis they say that it is a dermatofibroma (DF) spindle cell tumor. I looked up dermatofibroma and here's what I found. This does not cover the spindle cell tumor part of it. DF occurs more commonly in females with a male to female ratio of 1:4. It can occur in patients of any age but 20% occur before 17 years of age. Characteristics are pain and itching. DF forms most commonly on your legs, but second most commonly on your limbs. Historically it is believed to be caused by arthropod bites, however the cause of DF is unknown. Color can range from "gray, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, blue, brown, or black, or a combination of hues." I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a green. I mean, come on, if you're going to cover everything else I think green is going to feel left out.
I also found this interesting bit of information about the spindle cell type of DF:
"Immunohistochemical testing with antibodies to factor XIIIa is frequently positive in DF, while antibodies to MAC 387 show less consistent results. The former antibody labels fibroblasts (dermal dendrocytes), while the latter labels monocyte-derived macrophages (histiocytes). Controversy exists as to whether the factor XIIIa positivity occurs within the actual tumor cells of DF or simply labels the reactive stromal cells; hence, the cell of origin for the spindle cell proliferation of DF is debatable. The cell surface proteoglycan, syndecan-1, may play a role in the growth of DF. Transforming growth factor-beta signaling might be a trigger of the fibrosis seen in DF."
Do you understand that? Yeah, me neither! No, basically I understood that they have no idea which cell type the dermatofibroma starts in in the spindle cell tumors. But that's really a pretty useless piece of information isn't it?
Here's an interesting fact.
"Factor XIIIa requires calcium as a cofactor."
See, Chris might be right about it being a calcium deposit.
I will be having Slow Mohs Surgery on the 14th of July. Regular Mohs Surgery conserves as much of the normal tissue as possible, but Slow Mohs Surgery is a little more aggressive. They will be removing a sizable portion of skin and it will not be sutured shut. YUM! They will send the tissue off to the pathologists and they will determine if the tumor has been completely removed. If there are still missing pieces to the puzzle I will go back and undergo Slow Mohs Surgery again, and again, and again until the tumor is completely gone. Some people go in once and some come back over and over again. I hope I'm the before mentioned. After all the tumor has been removed they will do reconstructive surgery. Until then I will have a huge (okay so maybe it won't be that big) hole under my arm. That should arouse some interest!
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