2.5 years and counting

Shirakawago ~白川郷~

Happy 2014!! 

It's been about 6 months since the last update, but I think that's a good sign; it means that nothing terrible has happened to me in between. There are few health concerns I have been suffering with--elevated temperature and fatigue--but otherwise I was healthy, both mind and body, enough to complete my master's degree and move back to Japan!

From my health point of view, I am relieved that I'm back in Japan indefinitely--not entirely because of health insurance, but I didn't feel that I clicked with the doctors in the U.S. I didn't have the time and luxury to try out different doctors in Seattle, but the doctor I was seeing apparently received "Best Doctor in Seattle" award in 2011. It was rewarding to be seeing a great doctor to follow up with, but it was unfortunate that we didn't click.

So, I had my biannual ultrasound checkup last week, and I went to see my doctor in University of Tsukuba to hear the result. The result was good, I suppose. There were few semi-large lymphnodes detected, two of them were a little bigger with characteristic of cancerous cell. As my doctor explained about the characteristic of cancerous lymphnode and size of my lynphnode, the shape reminded me of beans.

One is about the size of kidney bean, and another is about the size of soy bean. (The size I'm referring to is both in dry state). My doctor said "I don't consider them as cancer because they are so small, and we as doctors don't take actions until they are at least 2 cm long." Hummm, so it has to be as big as an average peanut shell, I guess. Anyway, there's nothing neither my doctor or I can do at this point, so I decided to set my worry aside. Yay!

Since I still have the strange symptom of elevated temperature and fatigue every month, for about one week, my doctor told me to go see him next time when I have this symptom. I was quite relieved to hear my doctor suggest this...all U.S. doctor said was "unfortunately I don't know why you're experiencing this symptom. How about we wait and see..." Their difference in providing medical support may be derived from the difference in healthcare system. The U.S. doctor may have been subconsciously aware how much I would be paying to go through all the tests to diagnose my symptom...?

2 years and counting!

I am now a 27 year-old graduate student at University of Washington. It was about 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Last academic year had been absolutely frenetic...I think I was trying to prove to myself that I can go back to school again, even though I was not at full health to be honest.

2 weeks ago I had a chance to be in Japan, and I also had a chance to see my doctor. I had X-ray diagnosis, which showed my perfectly beautiful lungs, according to my doctor. Yay!

Other than the visit to my doctor in Japan, I have also been going to Hall Health at my school quite often. I wished that I didn't have to go there so often, but I had constant light fever on and off, flu-like cold, and my thyroid hormone level had to be checked every few months or so.

So yes, I seem to have survived the cancer so far. But life is also not all about cancer. Since I started school there were so many times I felt like I wanted to cry because I wasn't feeling well that I didn't feel like I could finish homework, I could produce results for research, and I am not viable for social life. But when I face those difficulties, I try to tell my self that all these troubles are still incomparable to the craziness I experienced in chemotherapy, that I should be able to handle them since I've survived the worst. At least for now.

Fall quarter ended, and PET checkup

We had beautiful fall this year in Seattle! 

There were few moments in the past few months that I thought and planned about writing a post on my Angie's notes on Hodgkin's lymphoma blog. I failed miserably, and as my excuse, I was drowning in the turmoil of school work and research. Although it was one of the busiest quarter I have ever experienced, it was the most worthwhile one. I felt involved, fulfilled, and accomplished. I also had a very healthy and regular lifestyle; I went to sleep by 10~11pm, and woke up by 6:30am nearly everyday. If I had understood how efficient I can be with such lifestyle, I would have practiced it when I was an undergrad.

Since I began taking hormone medicine, I had been feeling really well. I still do get tired easier than average person, but I have been able to go to school and do well :) I did experience some stomach discomfort, but it's hard to say whether this is a side effects of the medication or just simply stress from school.

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Anyhow, I'm back in Japan now, and I went to get PET scan last week. Today I had an appointment with my doctor in Tsukuba University to hear the result. The test results were negative (hurrah!), and I will not be seeing him until next summer or so.

My doctor said that he normally lets his patients go with no further scheduling if not further cancer cell growth is observed for 5 years.



 

Cause related marketing and...my medication!

Walking with the crowd for Heart Walk in downtown!

Today I participated in 2012 Puget Sound Heart and Stroke Walk with a couple of friends. One of my friend was organizing a team for his company, so I decided to join! Fortunately the Seattle-like weather decided to take a break, which we had a beautiful sunny day! The walk was 3 miles, which made me a bit worried due to my lack of physical strengths, but I made it through!

Ever since I decided to participate in this event, I also came to ponder whether I should be participating the run/walk for lymphoma...which I have discussed in my past blog, it's called Pineapple Classic 5k run with obstacles. 

Honestly, I don't think I have regained my physical strengths enough to challenge this event, so I will most likely not participate.

However, it made me think about the cause/benefit event marketing in the United States. When I registered for the Heart Walk, I was very impressed with their marketing strategies. I had my own page on the event website that shows how much I contributed, how much I have raised, and next milestone for a gift giveaway. I felt strange receiving e-mails that says "XX won a VIP package to Bar & Lounge XYZ" because XX raised the most money last Thursday. I mean it's great that they are able to raise money for preventions and research for heart diseases, but I'm worried that some people may be forgetting the original intention and just taking an advantage of the event.

I also came to realize that I think the U.S. has the most number of cause related event organized in the world. Pink ribbon month (which is October yo!), Relay for Life (American Cancer Society event fighting against cancer, more like raising funds toward stem cell research in my understanding), Dance Marathon (a.k.a THON, a friend from Penn State told me about this before. Benefiting wigs for kids), Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes, etc etc etc...I bet every health related society has its own benefit event. And I think Leukima & Lymphoma Society event is one of the smaller ones, probably due to the smaller number of patients and survivors...

Enough about the cause related walk/run, I began taking hormone medication last week. I complained to my doctor in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance that my light fever doesn't seem to leave me, then he looked at my thyroid hormone level from my blood test. It showed somewhat higher level compared to an average person, which may have been caused by the radiation therapy. So he prescribed me a hormone medicine, to lower that level down a bit. So far it seems to be working alright. Although my fever level has not changed, I don't feel the fatigue or exhaustion I used to experience as much. Which is...good I guess?

Back to UW Hall Health

My sweet sweet roommate decorated our apartment with awesome bouquet! So sweet!!

Tomorrow is the end of second week of Autumn quarter at University of Washington! It was fast, but it was quite a bumpy road; I seemed to have caught cold as soon as I arrived Seattle, and my fever did not leave until the end of last week. Indeed, even now, when I get home tired from school my temperature is slightly higher than my average temperature.

There's a saying in Japanese, "body is honest" meaning human body expresses its health condition quite sensitively according to the environment. Whenever my temperature is up, it reminds me of that saying. There were few moments that I felt like maybe I'm not ready to be back at school. I felt like my body was punishing me for coming back to the States. Luckily I'm a lot better than last week, although I still need to be careful not to catch cold or work too hard.

Today I got to be back to UW Hall Health to see a nurse practitioner, who then referred me to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). Well, I don't know how referral usually works in the U.S. but when I said a nurse referred me, all she did was hand me a phone number to SCCA, which is also available online at seattlecca.org. Fortunately I was able to make an appointment at SCCA within few hours after my visit to the Hall Health, and it's scheduled to be next week Wednesday.

Although it was over one year ago when I first visited UW Hall Health for my swollen left neck, somehow I didn't have any emotional experience when I went there today. I was indifferent; perhaps I was trying not to think about it too much. I was also a bit nervous; it was a similar feeling I had when I visit the hospital in Japan.