Battleship babe

After the biopsy I had to recover for another hour before I was aloud to get up. All went well and I made my way over to Dr. Luykx office.

She showed me that the part of the bone was missing on the inferior pubic ramus. This was what was causing the instability of my back. In the vicinity of the bone lies a tumor of about half an inch. This has been eating away at my bone, perhaps the last 8 years or so as I have felt pain there since the pregnancy. This lack of bone is presently a main reason for worry. Seeing as the cancer is eating away at different areas of the pelvis, there is a fear of me fracturing the bone near the sacroilliac joint. In that case I would become an invalid. (It chills me to think back at the many hours which I took therapeutic walks when I was stuck home with my back injury. I am not to take any such risk.)

my own pelvis

After pointing out this spot and reallizing that I had felt it, I consecutively pointed to spots on my body that have been hurting me. (This was supposedly a case of Lyme disease). Each spot I pointed out was like naming the coordinates in a battleship game. Each time I named a coordinate she would check her scan, and I had 7 hits in a row. I was always very good at that game! Actually this gave me goosebumps. She was suprised to find out how well in touch I am with my body.

Despite the fact that I still do not have the results of my biopsy, she told me what the bottom line is up to now.

I have cancerogenous cells in my pubic bone, at my hips, in the hipjoint, on my spine on several diffent spots, under my ribs, and in my lungs. We are assuming my head is clear. More testing will follow. The doctor could not believe that I have been carrying this pain with me since september 2005. She litterally told me that me being this tough was my biggest enemy. (So F all those people who thought I was so feable!)

All in all...we are still not sure what the source of the matter is, which is crucial in order to be able to determine the type of cancer and the matching treatment.
Why is this? Apparantly in 30% of the cases they are unable to determine the source because at the time when the first tumor appeared, the body was still strong enough to fight the cancer.
After a recovery one or two cells managed to get away and embed themselfs in another area of the body. So for instance if a breast cancer cell embeds itself in the hip and a tumor grows there...then the cancer is called breast cancer. It is very often the case that there are no longer any signs of the source when the disease is discovered. This is why the biopsy is so important.

The plan for the next days was to get my first radiation therapy A.S.A.P.. There are two reasons for this: One is to strenghten the bone so that the risk of breaking my hip deminishes, the other is pain relief.) Contrary to most people I have been given a status of high priority. A great feeling to know that everything is being taken care of ...but a horrible feeling when you realize how severe your own situation must be. I was told that I would be treated in the Anthoni Van Leeuwenhoek Clinic (cancer clinic in Amsterdam). At least this will please my sisters who want nothing less than this for me.