I share my cancer story for a few reasons. I did not find many resources or personal journeys related to my kind of salivary gland. Hoping my story can give hope to someone newly diagnosed, to continuing fighting strong, and find your support team to get you through. Also (and most importantly) to encourage everyone to take the time to get bumps, lumps, etc checked out, don't leave anything to Dr. Google, seek as many opinions as you need to feel good about your diagnosis and treatment.
Throughout my story, I see God working in so many ways. He had to prevent me from doing something that I loved (running), to tell me something was going on even though he tried other ways, but I ignored them. He always provided people at the right time during this journey from who I met at various times of my life. I am forever grateful for this as if my cancer progressed to the next grade, the ending of my cancer journey would have had a higher chance of being drastically different. I still get chills thinking how God always knew exactly what I needed and when before I realized it through this journey.
So here goes.... It's a long one....
Back in early 2016, my friend Marian asked if I wanted to sign up for a running lottery with her for the Moose Mountain Marathon up, way up in Minnesota. Not really researching, but knowing I had a trail marathon on my bucket list, I did. Then, we got in. Then, I realized it is 14 HOURS driving to the race- just add it to the adventure. A fun girls weekend come this September.
We picked a training plan based on a 50K. Did I mention we signed up for an ultra in November 2016 too? Another friend, Danielle decided to join us too. So we started training, and low and behold, my knee starts hurting. Eventually, I get to the point I couldn't run uphills OR downhills. Dr. Google was not helping me find stretches, no taping helped- even aqua jogging and biking hurt.
Begrudgingly, I went to a family physician who told me to rest, but he said since I was a runner I probably would not listen until my meniscus in my knee tore. Needless to say, I did not listen, but sought out advice from local runners. One recommended physical therapy- first time for PT- and this is when I met Callie.
On my second or third visit, Callie noticed my lump behind my ear. I had first noticed the bump in its infancy about 4 years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest. I figured it was just swollen lymph nodes. It never went away, just slowly grew. Never painful, and never bothered me. I researched it off and on. Dr. Google suggested fatty tumor, benign cysts. By the time Callie saw it, I could no longer wear earrings without my ear lobe being pushed out. She freaked out about it when she saw it. I told her I wasn't concerned. She didn't care and urged me to get it checked out.
So I found myself back in the doctor's office again a few weeks later. He told me it was most likely an epidermoid cyst. I could wait a few months to see if it would go away or get an ENT appointment. I opted for a ENT because I knew it wasn't going anywhere.
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| the cancerous lump, pre-surgery #1 |
I met with the ENT who thought it was a sebaceous cyst or epidermoid cyst and it was infected. With the large size, he suggested surgically removing it. A week later, I found myself in outpatient surgery for the first time ever. The surgeon told me husband that the surgery went fine and I can get the stitches out in a week.
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| post surgery |
I was so anxious about getting the 9 stitches out, that I was not worried about the pathology results that I would also get at this follow-up appointment. My ENT kept asking me if my husband was with me. I told him he was with our kids at home. Finally after he took the stitches out, he took me to another room to tell me I had mucoepidermoid carcinoma aka salivary cancer of the parotid gland.
Parts 2 and 3 coming soon....
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