When Life Gives You Lemons...

As the saying goes, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Well, life has recently given our family a big bucket of lemons. Over Christmas break my mom broke her rib for no apparent reason so tests were performed to see what happened. Her doctor found a tumor the size of a fist located on my mom's lung which caused her rib to break. After several doctor visits and many more tests my mom has been diagnosed with plasmacytoma. Plasmacytoma is a type of cancer that starts in the plasma cells.

Once more tests results came in, the cancer was given a new name, multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma begins when a plasma cell becomes abnormal. The abnormal cell divides to make copies of itself by dividing again and again, making more and more abnormal cells. The abnormal plasma cells are myeloma cells. The disease is called "multiple myeloma" because it affects many bones. If myeloma cells collect in only one bone, the single mass is called a plasmacytoma. Multiple myeloma is the most common type of plasma cell tumor and is not the same as bone cancer. Mom only has one tumor, that is located in her lung, and cancer cells around other bones, but these cells have not formed into tumors.

For treatment, she will undergo radiation to shrink the tumor. There will be around 25 radiation treatments. The radiation will eliminate the tumor, which will allow my mom to breathe better and allow the rib to heal. A low dosage of chemotherapy will also be used as a treatment. The cheomotherapy will be used to attack and kill all of the other cancer cell that are in her body. In addition, there will also be a "magic" pill that will assist with the treatment.

The doctor is going to allow for four months of treatment and then they will monitor the remisssion stage. The doctors and nurses have all been amazing and very supportive.

Mom did need to get a blood transfusion this week. Her blood was not producing enough oxygen and the transfusion will help with this and to give her a little more energy. Mom will also get a port put into her chest. The port will allow for easy access for blood work and chemo. This way she will not have to be pricked all the time.

Thank you so much for all of the prayers and positive thoughts being sent to her and our family. I will make sure to keep everyone in the loop. You never expect news like this, but it certainly brings your family closer to each other. It causes you to really look at what is important in life and be thankful for all the kind words, support, and smiles that complete strangers give to you.