How we got to where we are....

I had a cold in March, 2009. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember getting up one morning with a sore arm. I thought that I had overextended my elbow by sleeping with one arm stretched out off the bed.

A few weeks later, it was still hurting. I figured that I was overcompensating movements to protect the elbow. I tried a sling, a couple braces. I was losing some range of motion, couldn't lift my arm above my head, couldn't straighten it completely. Still going with it being muscular or tendons, but it was sore enough that it was interfering with my sleep. I went to see the nurse practitioner and she measured the upper arm and found the left (sore) arm to be slightly bigger than the right arm. She thought that it was originating in the shoulder. She prescribed some anti-inflammatories and sent me for a series of xrays. I didn't hear anything about the xrays afterwards, and assumed that all was ok.

A month later, I was running out of anti-inflammatories, and, while my arm wasn't as sore, it was still not pain-free. I made another appt with the nurse practioner to find out about physio and get a new prescription. When she pulled up my file, the xrays had come back with a question about bone density and instructons to send me for a CT scan. But the notes had been overlooked. So she ordered a CT scan and told me to hold off on the exercises or physio. I got an appointment for a couple days later for the CT scan.

The results were due back in a week. At the week point, I started calling the doctor's office, but was told the results weren't in. It ended up going a week and a half, and I had decided that this meant that nothing was wrong. Then the doctor called me, herself. She told me that we had an "interesting set of results" from the CT scan. There was a mass indicated, and the bone was deteriorating at the point of the mass. She said that she was making arrangements to send me to an orthopedic surgeon as soon as possible to start more testing.

I saw the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday, June 18th, 2009. He is a shoot straight from the hip kind of guy. He brought up the pictures of the scan, and started explaining things and I nearly passed out. We are talking totally freaked out panic. I spent most of the session with my head between my knees, trying not to pass out. Very dramatic.

He said that the mass was likely one of three options....

1- a tumour, malignant or not
2- an infection
3- a metabolic issue

though he was pretty sure that it was a tumour. He stated that we would do in depth testing before anything else to establish whether the tumour was a one and only, or if there were more, and then make a plan. He wanted blood tests, a bone scan, CT scans, and an MRI. We were lucky in that I got the bone scan right away.

When I came home, I had a really good cry. I called some people, including my shrink. She told me to come in that afternoon to talk to her. I think that it helped a lot to get my thoughts in order right away. Eased some of the panic.

I had the bone scan on Friday. It was long and boring and a little bit claustrophoic at times.

Now we wait. I will hopefully get the other two tests soon.

The doctor has said that IF the tumour is only in the one spot, the worst case scenario would be a biopsy to determine the exact nature of the tumour, then possibly a round of chemo to shrink the tumour, then surgery to remove the tumour and damaged bone, followed by a bone graph and/or a metal plate.

It has been an exhausting and sickening week. I have people praying for me, and I am not freaking out. I pray that the tumour is only in the one spot. I really need to hear that its only in the one spot. Its the last week of school and I have so much happening right now.