posted December 13, 2007 02:40 PM
Pid,Thanks for thinking of me. I was just thinking I should pop in and give an update here as well. I just spend 20 minutes sending out mass emails, which I normally don't do, but with all the many people who are in the loop, I need to or else I wouldnt' do much but email.
Thanks so much for thinking of us, it really helps keep my spirits up when I;'d otherwise be getting down.
Hugs and Love,
Amanda aka GG
Hello everyone.
Some of you have not been notified of my condition yet, so I'll give a quick
once-over. For years I have suffered from occasional acute back pain to the
point of complete immobility. At times this condition would lay me out for
3-4 weeks at a stretch. I would spend time walking, running, lifting
weights, adjusting my diet, visiting chiropractors and acupuncturists, and
icing and warming the offending portions of my body to stave off these
attacks. Back in mid August of this month I had come back in from a jog
with a back pain that I had never felt before. My chiropractor said that I
was quite possibly a stress fracture and that I should refrain from heavy
activity for about a month and it would get better. After a month of rest
the pain was mostly gone, then one day I was stretched out on my bed and my
twin sons ran in and jumped on me, causing my back to seize up. The pain the
progressed from day to day, getting worse and worse. I am not generally one
to rely upon pain medications, but it got to the point that I was taking
Advil on a regular basis. About a week after this I began to develop
abdominal pain, and I attributed this to the combination of the Advil's
action on my stomach lining and stress related to my personal life (my mother
was having some health issues and I was very concerned with her). I made a
visit to the emergency room with the complaints of the stomach pain along
with the back pain and was sent home with a medication to control acid
production along with a single weeks worth of pain medication for the back.
The pain proceeded to get worse and worse, and soon I was unable to sleep
lying down, to sleep more than 45 minutes at a stretch, or to eat more than
about 3/4 cup of fruit at a time. The day before Thanksgiving I began losing
feeling in my feet, but simply attributed this to a possibly swelling disc in
my back. Ice and Tylenol didn't abate the spread of the numbness, and by the
Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving I could not feel my legs or walk
reliably. Amanda insisted that we go to the emergency room in Ames at 11 PM
on that Sunday night. By the time we got there I was losing feeling in my
lower abdomen and could not be in any position for an extended period of time
without being in excruciating pain. Every bump we went over on the drive to
the hospital sent an electric shock down the lower half of my body that made
me feel as if my insides were on fire. An x-ray was ordered and came back
normal, but the Doctor on duty is a friend of mine and he insisted on me
having an MRI. They found a mass in my back. On Monday, November 26th I was
diagnosed with a large Lymphoma of the spine. It has been there for at least
6-7 years. I was told by the doctors if it had waited another two weeks that
I would have been paralyzed from the chest down. They got my started on
steroid treatment right away and that relieved pain that I have been living
with for years. I have now begun the second week of my radiation therapy out
of a total of 5 weeks. So far so good, though I've had some pretty rough
muscle cramps in my back from the toxins released during the tumor
destruction process combined with a very restrictive back brace they have me
in to prevent my spine from collapsing. I'll need to remain in the brace for
at least 2 months. The only invasive procedures I've undergone have been
biopsies, and the scars from those have healed up well. The doctors have
told me that at this point I will only need the steroids and radiation
treatments and I have a better than 93% chance of full recovery. This may
change if a PET Scan shows anything else, but we are waiting on that test to
get the current tumor under control.
My family is all together, though, and taking things a day at a time. Amanda
is holding up much better than I had expected and she is now officially my
hero. The children are being allowed to see where dad goes to get his
treatments and are also being given the opportunity to speak with any and all
of the doctors so that any questions they might have are answered. This has
been very hard on us all from an emotional standpoint as nothing really
prepares you to know how to feel about a situation like this.
I have chosen to take this as a turning point in my life and to grow from this
as an individual. The doctors and therapists have told me that this is a
very good way to approach this turn in my life and that this will also help
with the recovery process.
I am beginning to feel stronger every day, and as such am having to fight off
the want to over-extend myself at times, but for the sake of my health and my
family I ensure that I am getting plenty of rest, water and good food. The
community of Ames has done such a wonderful job of extending themselves in
love and support that if I can repay even a fraction of what I have received
over the rest of my life I will feel that I have accomplished something
meaningful.
Had I known the root of
the issue I would have long ago gotten this treated. As a friend of mine
quipped "they should have caught this on your yearly MRI!" Unfortunately
this is not the sort of thing that is done on a yearly basis, and in my case
was only ordered up at the insistence of the Doctor on duty in the ER that
happens to be a friend of mine. I owe him my life.
For all of you, thank you very much for the gifts, the visits, the phone
calls, the emails, the thoughts and the prayers and the love.
As always, if you are getting this and not wanting to, let me know. If you
are getting this and know someone else who should or would want to get it and
other updates, let me know.
I understand that many of you may want to show more than moral support, and if
you feel the need to participate in the community support that is being
organized around my family please let me know and I will put you in touch
with the individuals who have taken it upon themselves to organize all of the
good acts that my family have been benefiting from.
Peace, love, health,
--
Kevin H. Feeley
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We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard