Week One - The Burgundy Lion

(I thought I would pitch in on the blog once in a while. I am not as elegant as my bride, but it can be therapeutic, I heard.)

The diagnosis at this point is that I have something called Multiple Myeloma. It is a cancer of the blood plasma, that infects bone marrow, bones, and other tissues if left alone. The ribbon color is burgundy. March is Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. There is no cure but if treatment is followed, the chances are good of a long life. Just takes work.

So I first heard the term Multiple Myeloma as a "slip up" by a different doctor. I hate that it is so hush hush at first but I understand why. My other thought was uh oh... they said "something something-OMA", that means the C word.  I didn't want to say it or hear it. In fact I don't think I heard a doctor say it out right until they said I would be moving to the Huntsman Cancer Center.

I think I was still in shock because I don't think it really hit me until last night, Sunday night, when I got my first chemo treatment. Chemo was my trigger word apparently, and pure dread and fear came rushing in.  The whole time I was waiting for that shot, I realized I was just bemoaning dialysis. Which is a whole lot easier than the chemo, as weird as that sounds. Also, the dumb nurse who injected it.. good lord, anyone who knows me knows I have like a 100 acres of fat in my belly and the guy shoots straight to my muscle.

Anyways, time to embrace the new normal and pick up my weapons to fight the battle. One thing I told Michelle is we are not turning away any help. There is  too much to do. We will figure it out in time.

Michelle first tagged me as a Lion during this latest hospital trip and at first I was thinking, TIGERS ARE SO MUCH COOLER! But I realized the Lion is the animal I will strive to fight like. One particular trait I like is that they are aggressive when they need to be, and right now, I need to be.

~Chris