Nicolaro

March 5th Michael showed me a lump on his neck after returning from the Philadelphia Flower show.  We assumed it was an allergic reaction and gave it a week to go away.

March 12th  Lucy took Michael to the doctor.  Dr. Genco immediately realized the lump was not right and referred us for a CATScan.

March 13th We went for a CATScan.  Lucy took Michael for a haircut directly afterwards while I took Paul to the store.  We did not get to the store before we got a call from Dr. Genco suggesting that we go directly to the ER for further testing.  During this visit we would meet with serveral doctors and the term "Lymphoma" was suggested along with a dozen other better possiblilities.  We were scared but very hopeful.  Michael was admitted overnight for a bunch of testing.  All test results were negative.  They were able to rule out Ebstein Barr or Mono as well as Cat Scratch Fever.

Michael was placed on an IV and as a result the lump began to get softer.  Michael and I stayed overnight and in the morning I was shocked that the lump looked smaller.  We were given a Chest and Abdomen CATScan and sent home.

This catscan was done to see if any other nodes appeared enlarged.  At this time we were only suspectiing one Node or a single group of nodes.  We were told this was good becasue it was considered "localized".  Michael was also noticiing a lympnonde on the base of his skull that felt funny.  We knew that the large node on his neck extended out of the original CATScan so we were eager to get the result from the new CATScan that inculded a contrasting dye.  we left the hospital on March 14th and were asked to watch the lump for a week and await the CATSCan results.

On March 16th we were told that there were not other enlarged notes ont he Scan.  We were asked to return on March 23rd to discuss a biopsy.  There was some disucssion about taking a frozen sample and placing t under a microsope while Michael remained sedated.  Based on those findings they would determine if the node had to be removed. 

March 17th.  I began measuring Michael's neck each day.  The diameter was exactly 16 inches.  The lump got back to its initial firmness after the IV was removed.  After the oncology group committeed Michael's case it was decided that we would meet on March 23rd to discuss the biopsy.  During the entire week we continued to measure Michael's neck getting the same results.  We were relieved it did not get any larger and we remained positive that the biopsy would ultimately determine nothing was wrong.

March 23rd.  We met with Dr. Pierre the surgeon and Dr. Sharma the Oncologist.  They gave s information on how the Biopsy would go.  It was an outpatient procedure and the results could take anywhere from 1 day to five days. There was also a suggestion about doing a Bone Marrow biopsy. While they told us this was routine, I  personally was floored that we were even considering such a test.  We agreed to allow whatever test the doctor's suggested but were hopeful they were just staying on the side of caution.  They were being upfront with us based onthe data they had at the time.  The Biopsy was scheduled for March 27th.

March 27th.  Along with Lucy's parents, we arrived at Robert Wood Johnson hospitatl to have the surgery.  On the day of the surgery we were informed they had decided not to do the frozen slice pathology but rather to take the entire node out and send it for testing.  Lucy had questioned why they weren't taking it out anyway if it had to come out eventually, so it seemed they were agreeing to this logic.

When the surgery was completed, Dr. Pierre was optimistic about the look and feel of the node.  She felt there was not obvious signs of carcinoma, but only the lab tests would tell.  We felt like we were not out of the woods, but maybe on our way out.  She indicated that the node was not as large as it appearred, but that it was "tenting" up the muscle so it appeared larger.  She was not able to take the entire node becasue it was involved with other muscle and nerves.  We later learned that they took three pieces from separate Lymphnodes. We left the surgery very optimistic and feeling like we had finally gotten some slightly positve news.  We spent the next day trying to get back to life instead of just staring at the walls.  Lucy was starting to function again without crying.  We dared to think that this whole thing could be in our rear view mirror in a few days.

It was 1pm on March 29th. I remember walking down the hallway to my office somehow knowing I had just missed a call, but never hearing the phone.