[fnftwo] Regarding Kirsten

Hello Dear Creative Friends,

I will preface this with an apology and a "head's up": I'm sorry to send this as a group note, but I simply do not have the energy to write everyone individually, and I don't want to miss anyone who might wish to be in touch. If you don't know me all that well and/or are not interested in what's up with my health, please just go ahead and delete this now. :) After this I will avoid group emails whenever possible.

As many of you know, I have been having some pretty serious breathing problems for several months, culminating in the recent never-ending bout of pneumonia. After 6 weeks of illness and 4 courses of strong, varied antibiotics, the ER doctors wanted to see if something else might be going on in addition to the pneumonia, so I was given a CAT scan. The scan revealed a "cause for concern": a "spot" on my left lung, and some "lymph node activity". That, the extreme difficulty breathing, and the unresponsive nature of the pneumonia, are what promted my being admitted.

Because of the location of the spot and the asthmatic state of my lungs, a biopsy isn't really the best option...there is a strong potential for lung puncture/collapse. So I will be receiving a PET scan next week. The PET scan will basically inject a radioactive "food/sugar" dye into my system. Active cells will latch on to the "food" particles and be "tagged", thereby showing up in the scan. The chance for false negatives with PET scans is quite low, but in order to avoid a false positive I have to be as healthy as possible. I spent my time in the hospital receiving heavy-duty IV antibiotics and various breathing treatments. (I am now definitely in better shape than last week.)

So...scary stuff...BUT -- I am reasonably young (46), female, and have never been a smoker, so I've been strongly urged not to jump to any conclusions. If the PET scan comes back negative, I will continue to receive regular scans for a couple of years to monitor the situation. It could turn out to be "just one of those harmless biological things". If it comes back positive, I will be having immediate surgery to remove any suspicious cells, bypassing the biopsy in between. I got the impression that the Pulmonary specialist and Oncologist feel that if they have to go in under risky conditions they would rather do so only once.

We have not crossed any bridges beyond that. The "what comes next" all depends on the PET scan results. I assume that if surgery is necessary, a biopsy of the removed tissue will then be done to determine where we go from there. I'm trying very hard to take things one step at a time and not worry about "what if's". I'm getting lots of rest, keeping up with the breathing treatments, and waiting. (The waiting sure isn't easy!! ;-p)

I know many of you have been through similar experiences. Any words of wisdom you have would be welcome, as would any prayers or positive thoughts. So as to avoid repeated group notes like this one, if you are interested in receiving updates, please drop me a line and I will set up a specific "mail list". When I am unable to correspond, Chris - my hubby-type-guy - will do so.

Anyway, that's what's going on. Thank you again for your concern and well-wishes. I can't begin to tell you how much you all mean to me! I will be writing individually as time and energy allow. Please, take good care of yourselves, don't take your health for granted, and Keep On Creating!!