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| 25 years ago, at about this time of year, while anxious over finishing my Ph.D. I casually brushed my hand across my temple. I felt a very small raised place. I dismissed it as is a pimple that would go away in a few days.............. |
| What I did not know was that it was something much more complex and odd than a pimple. The single rogue cell that I had mentioned previously had rapidly grown into a full and thriving lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system. The lymph system plays a role in recycling fluid to the blood, filtering foreign bodies from the blood, and it also has a major role in the immune system. It is a part of the circulatory system consisting of lymph vessels that parallel the blood vessels and lymph nodes. |
| The tumor's location is odd because there are no lymph nodes under the skin of the temple. Later I will find that it is "lucky" that the tumor presented here, because most lymphomas cause no symptoms: no pain, no discomfort, no fever, no blood irregularities until the tumor is quite large, and by then there is often significant spreading or metastasis. This presentation allowed for early detection greatly increasing the odds of a favorable prognosis. |
| Stay tuned for more of the story. |
| (Cancer Chronicles is a series of status updates that account the events of 25 years ago when I went through a bout with cancer. Its purposes are multi-fold: catharsis, education, information, celebration, etc. ) |
| This was originally posted to facebook on August 12, 2012. |
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