I had this weird swollen place on my neck, around one of my lymph nodes starting around October of last year. I didn’t think that it was that odd, given that most cold and flu symptoms begin, for me, with swollen lymph nodes. But the issue persisted, and I made an increasing number of medical appointments through November and December to figure it out. I was not really concerned about anything until I got a surprising call from my ENT doctor that I needed to see oncology specialists about a possible cancer diagnosis.
Everything since then (a month ago) has felt surreal. Lots more appointments, scans, worries, processing a full medical leave from work (before I had my first oncology appointment, which meant that I had to just kind of guess at what I needed), and a pile up of delicate conversations with family and friends. I have learned some things in the last month (socially and scientifically), and I’m going to use this space to document the cancer treatment that is planned to start for me in a couple of weeks.
I have decided to hide these posts from the front page of my blog because I haven’t yet wrapped my head around how I want my public facing blog and my identity as a cancer patient to blend together. However, this blogging “category” (and the URL associated with all of the posts) will be public and shareable, so if you’ve landed here and want to share it for any reason, feel free.
