Anaplastic ALK-positive large cell lymphoma

A week and a day after surgery I went back in, May 22nd, 2013, to have the suture in my neck removed. I was informed that the mass was indeed cancer. Anaplastic ALK-positive large cell lymphoma, which is the good type of this kind of lymphoma. I have better odds than most. It is a rare type and I say of course I had to have a rare type because I must always be special in some way. (haha) However, it scares me to no end. The Cancer Center at University of Michigan Medical Center wanted me to come in as soon as there was an opening. On May 22nd I was a sit and wait patient for a full body CT, turns out I am allergic to the barium they have you drink before a CT. I was sick for 2 days after that. So on top of having cancer I was sick and couldn't eat or drink anything but Gatorade.

I made it in by June 5th and had a bone marrow biopsy, PET scan, and Echo scheduled for June 6th. The bone marrow biopsy was one of the worst experiences of my entire life. They don't warn you beforehand what to expect but they have you lie on your stomach with your hips elevated and push a pen gauged needle into your right and left hip. They tap the bone until they find a spot where it produces pressure rather than stabbing pain and then go into the bone. They draw out some marrow to test then pull out more. Once they draw out the marrow they push deeper to get a piece of bone. The next hip they will either only take a piece of bone or take more marrow along with bone. For me they only took a piece of bone from my right hip. After this I had to go down and get a PET scan where you lie on your back, which was not happening after having needles shoved into my hip bones. They gave me a couple pillows to lie on during the procedure and I did alright.

I made sure that I asked my oncologist/hematologist, Dr Wilcox, my likelihood of infertility after chemo and he said it was slim due to the type I'd be having but that I could discuss it further with the reproductive endocrinologist. They decided to give me Lupron Depot to put me into temporary menopause through the whole of chemotherapy to hopefully protect the eggs already there. I was unable to have my eggs harvested due to the time constraint that they placed on when I would start chemotherapy. If I could go back and do it I think I would postpone chemo another week or so just so I would be able to have them harvested. It takes 2 to 3 weeks to have your eggs harvested. Dr. Wilcox wanted me to start on June 19th.