[Dialogue] What's happening with Janice

[E B]

Dear Janice,
Thank you for sharing of yourself with this community.
I'm thinking of you and lighting a healing candle as you go through this chemo process.
 
Elsa Batica
Minneapolis, MN


________________________________
 From: Janice Ulangca <aulangca at stny.rr.com>
To: Colleague Dialogue <Dialogue at wedgeblade.net> 
Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2013 11:46 AM
Subject: [Dialogue] What's happening with Janice
 


 
From Janice Ulangca
 
Dear ICA friends,
 
Since January I've experienced increasing 
tiredness that's become extreme. At first I chalked this up to local projects 
that were rewarding - and challenged everything I had to give. "Or maybe it's 
just old age catching up with me!" But something else was going on.
 
Thursday I saw an oncologist, who went over results of 
tests with me. Almost a week of tests came in April, after a mammogram followed 
by a breast biopsy March 28 indicated large B-cell lymphoma cancer. The bone 
marrow biopsy, PET and CT scans did not indicate widespread cancer, which is a 
relief. The oncologist says that this is stage 2 - more widespread than stage 1, 
but not as much as stages 3 or 4. 
 
Now I'm due to start chemotherapy Wed. May 
22. Each 21 days I'll spend most of the day at Lourdes hospital in Binghamton in 
the oncology center, receiving chemo and antibodies (don't know what they are 
yet). June 12, July 3, and July 24 will finish the chemo. Two more sessions with 
antibodies only on August 14 and September 4.  A good friend went with me 
Thursday, and we were laughing about this typical fall question: "And how did 
you spend your summer vacation?!" 
 
People do respond to chemo differently, 
veterans tell me (and so did the oncologist). Weakness is common - sometimes 
does not appear until after a few treatments. What - more than I'm already 
experiencing?! Good grief! (as Charlie Brown would say). 
 
Thoughtful friends have already gone with me 
to some of the tests and the oncology visit. Their support is wonderful. So 
gratitude for blessings - especially through people and Spirit - really lift me 
with caring. And I have to say - such a beautiful time in this part of the 
world. Walking through the neighborhood, with lilacs in bloom, trees covered 
with pink or white blossoms, bright yellow forsythia bushes everywhere, flowers 
in front of many homes, birds singing their hearts out on behalf of the next 
generation - seems the world is exploding with beauty that points to the Sacred 
all around us.
 
Much affection to you,
 
Janice
 
Knowing nothing about the lymph nodes before 
this diagnosis, here's what I found on line - skip unless 
interested:
Lymphoma is a disease of a part of the immune system, the lymph 
nodes. Normally, the lymph nodes serve as "sentries" of our bodies defense 
against disease. When bacteria or viruses enter the body, the cells of the lymph 
node divide to fight it. However, sometimes the cells in a lymph node begin to 
multiply without any reason, and make a tumor ... Lymphoma causes a lump or 
mass, and may also cause the patient to be tired, weak, prone to infections, or 
have a fever. 
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