A Thanksgiving weekend accident that had nothing to do with deep fried turkeys

Did you know that there have been 141 cases of extremely serious injuries in the last decade that have resulted from deep frying turkeys. Yikes. I'll let William Shatner explain those dangers....


But this story has nothing to do with that.

Engagement Photos in Spring 2010

On Friday, it seemed like all members of the immediate family were off doing separate things - lunch with other friends and family members, craft fairs, etc. Dashing was left behind at his parents' home to sleep, play video games, hang Christmas decorations (which he loves) or whatever until about 1pm when his mother and I were going to meet up with him for lunch followed by attending Arizona State University's football game that evening. Apparently he decided to cruise around town in his vintage 1965 mustang (the one from our engagement photos).

It was about lunch time when the phone call came in Caller ID: Dashing "Um, do you have jumper cables...." followed by "well, my car (the mustang) died at the intersection, so I jumped out to push it and the corner of the vent window cut my forehead. I think I might need to go to the Emergency Department." Remember, Dashing works in the ED in another town, so on his day off, the last thing he wants to do is to go to the ED.

I'm thinking "cut." As in the length of a typical paper cut. Like, Ok, maybe he needs some of that dermabond glue for a little cut. His mother and I show up on the scene and his forehead is drenched in blood even with the random piece of paper he found in his car to put pressure on the wound. I will spare you these pre-hospital photos. This "cut" starts at his hairline in the center of his forehead and runs vertically down to the bridge of his nose. [warning: gory detail line] I couldn't even really look at it as chunks of flesh were dangling from the site of the wound. A bit was even left on the window. Yes - I know - I should be and am thankful for the fact that he had no head trauma from the hit, nor was he hit by another car - but I did still think of the cosmetic implications of this kind of nasty gash. I must admit, Frankenstein did come to mind.You'll see what I mean below.

Now, it was lunch time, and so before we went to the ED, we went and sat and ate lunch. Yup. This is how a medical family rolls.

Anyways, a few hours + a tetanus shot + 10 real (no glue) stitches later....

Now do you see the resemblence????!!! Oh, Dashing. I will love you no matter what.

The stitches will be removed in a few days, and he'll be taking care of the wound to minimize scaring. I'll post a photo in a few weeks to show progress. We are very lucky that after the whole car dying in the middle of a busy part of town that this this the only thing that happened. He is doing just fine, and his spirits are up. Last night, he even said "You know, I think this scar will be pretty awesome."

On a side note: We had a wonderful Thursday turkey Thanksgiving with homemade, state-fair blue ribbon winning pumpkin pies - you may not believe this, but the maker of these pies is my one and only 6 foot 5 in burly father- in-law!  I will share a few of the pie making secrets soon.

Black Friday

This past Wednesday, I had my 5th chemotherapy treatment - I can't believe it! I've been responding well to treatment and am still in the best of hands with my friends and family. I have to say that I've gotten used to being the patient in all sense of the word - at home and in the hospitals. However, I got a taste of what it's like to be on the other side of the hospital bed this Thanksgiving's Black Friday.

On Thursday, the entourage headed up to northern Arizona to spend Thanksgiving in the high country. Thanksgiving was moved to Saturday to accommodate every one's schedules. When you're with a medical family - you learn to change the date of holidays frequently. Dashing's sister, Miss E, then started having complaints of stomach pains, and by Friday morning, Dashing and his Dad had determined that Miss E would be appendix-less by the end of the day. Yes, Miss E had a head on collision with appendicitis. This was the start of Black Friday. We headed over to the emergency room (which luckily Dashing's dad runs) and Miss E was prepped for surgery after a positive CT scan. As she was lying in the hospital bed, I started to understand what my family and friends feel as I am going through my treatments.

The uncertainty overwhelmed me and I felt quite helpless. I tried to find ways to keep the Miss E's spirits up with the little things, like loaning her socks and reading magazines. I felt like this was my opportunity to give Miss E support like she has been giving me for the past few months.

As a medical student, Dashing was able to actually stand in and watch Miss E's surgery, which was a success. I am happy to report that Miss E is recovering fabulously and demanded to go out to a Mexican dinner only a few hours after surgery. What a trooper!

So, this Thanksgiving especially, I want to THANK every friend, family, and blog friend for your support and love. It makes all the difference.

One day at a time

My blog post sabbatical has come from a whirlwind of events - so this is going to be a long post so those who know me can understand what is going on. The "important" stuff is after the cake....

On Friday AND Saturday night I saw Julie and Julia, beautiful movie that has rejuvenated my love for baking. On Sunday, we celebrated Dashing's aunt's birthday and the baking got out of hand. See photo below...

German chocolate bundt cake with coconut glaze (left)
Creamy red velvet cake with home-made cream cheese frosting (center)
Extra chocolate devil's food cake with chocolate ganache icing (right)

After the baking festival, we sat down to play a game of 313, a card game, with 10 people. This makes the game last forever. So, in the meantime, I what Julia Child learned to "breast your cards." It was then that I noticed my right collar bone didn't feel like my left. I figured it was my posture, but I said something in passing at the enormous card table and Dashing and his father (a physician) froze. Me, oblivious to what was going on said, "sure, feel my bones." What I didn't realize was that Dashing and his dad felt three tumors.

This is when the whirlwind began. Remember that was Sunday evening around 6pm. I went to work as usual on Monday morning; finished a report, read some articles and then got a phone call. Dashing's dad has scheduled me for a doctor's appointment at 12noon. This appointment was to include a chest x-ray and meeting with my internal medicine doctor. Wow, now that was fast. Getting a little more worried about what was to come, I gave myself a migraine - great. Thank you stress.
Before I knew it, Monday morning I saw a radiologist for x-rays, my internal medicine doctor for an overview of what was going on, and a general surgeon to review. By Tuesday morning I was in the operating room having a lymph node removed. I am happy to report the surgery went well and I've been out of the hospital for about 20 hours now. However, they did find what they predicted - I was just diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma (a form of cancer) today. I was strong enough after wards to even make everyone go out for post-op breakfast - I may be crazy, but that's ok. I even had a big omelet!

See, this is all hard to swallow (not the food, the news) for me as I have shown no symptoms of illness; no fevers, weight loss, night sweats, bruising......etc. I'm active, in the gym, eating healthy and feeling fine. I've gone from a healthy, Sunday's Julie and Julia gal to a cancer patient in 36 hours. (BREATHE). I'll be having more scans, test, and workups throughout the week and have my first appointment with my oncologist on Thursday when I'll find out my radiation/chemotherapy plan. In the meantime (of course there always seems to be more with medical conditions), I'm beginning to work with a fertility clinic because I'm encourage to harvest some of my eggs for future conception. This is just precautionary they say (from the drugs)

I am currently staying with Dashing's parents. He has taken some time off of medical school. My dad has flown out from Indiana to stay with me too. I can say I am in the best care with wonderful support. With Dashing's dad being a doctor and mom a nurse - they haven't missed a beat (and have called in many a favors from others). My internal medicine Dr. has been a gem - calling all of his contacts to make this as smooth of a transition - diagnosis as possible. As for my kind of cancer - Hodgkin's Lymphoma, there is a VERY HIGH SUCCESS RATE FOR TREATMENT - which is great to hear. This kind of cancer is the one that makes people say the ridiculous phrase "If I were to have cancer, this is the one I'd want to have" - yes, like you would really say that...but they do!

I'll be continuously posting updates on my symptoms, feelings, tests, etc. If you know anyone else who is going through this - I hope you can pass on this blog to them and show them they are not the only ones out there. I hope I can provide information for my family and support for others out there.