This a complete update as of Feb. 16, 2008,

Thursday February 14, 2008 was a day from "quesnel" if you catch my meaning.  It was as if someone punched me in the solar plexus and I did not recover all day.  I decided then that Friday the 15th would be a new beginning for me.  I decided to pick myself up by the bootstraps and forge on.  I will find reasons to smile and laugh and be positive about what's happening to me and around me.  No more snivelling or feeling sorry for myself. 

Around Christmas time I noticed that the left hand side of my face and jaw was starting to swell.  I went to see my Doctor on January 10th thinking I had swollen glands.  She sent me for an Ultra Sound examination on Jan. 14th.  The results of that procedure were forwarded to Dr. Filatov the local Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat specialist here in PG.  I saw Dr. Filatov for the first time Jan. 25th and he examined me.  Golly, he inserted this two foot tube with a camera on the end of it up through my nose.  It was the most painful and uncomfortable experience of my life and something I don't ever want to have done to me again if I am conscious.  The Ultra Sound showed a lump of 5.5 mm located in my neck under my left ear.  He then scheduled me for a CT Scan which I had done in Quesnel on Feb. 6th.  And then I had a second appointment with Filatov on Feb. 8th.  I had the CT Scan in Quesnel (115 kms south of PG on Hwy 97) because the Hospital here in Prince George is booking procedures into May now. 

The tumor/lump showed up quite clearly on the CT Scan and Dr. Filatov estimated it to be over 2 cms in diameter.  The attending physician in Quesnel had not dictated his report by that time and that was disappointing. 

Dr. Filatov did a "fine needle biopsy" and took four different cell samples from the lump on Feb. 8th.  It was more painful than I was led to believe it would be but, I survived.  I asked specifically if the lump was an affected Lymph Node and he said yes but, he still refers to it as a lump.  The results of the biopsy arrived at Filatov's office Feb. 13.  On Feb. 14, 2008 my life was forever changed at 8:30 in the morning when Dr. Filatov told me that I had cancer and the lump was malignant.    Had the Doctor in Quesnel done his report in a more timely manner, we would have known a week earlier that the lump displayed cancerous characteristics.

Dr. Filatov does not know specifically what kind of cancer I have.  He mentioned several types of cancer that it could be and one of them was lymphoma and the name of other type escaped me and I was to rattled to remember to ask him.   Since the lump is malignant, I have to have a 2nd CT Scan in Quesnel, this time of my chest to determine what if anything is there.  During the 1st week of March he will perform a Panendoscopy where I will be sedated/put to sleep and he will search around inside my mouth, throat, neck and other areas with a hard scope and try to determine where this cancer has migrated from and what it is.  During the same procedure he will take another biopsy of the lump from the inside.  If he is able to determine that the lump is the primary area of the cancer and not the secondary area as he now thinks it is, treatment could be a lot easier.  Keep your fingers crossed that it will be as simple as this.  My Son Brad will come down to PG from Fort St. John to be with me during that time and give me moral support and whatever other support I may need.

After all of this I will meet with Dr. Filatov and more decisions will be made some of them being a referral to the Cancer Clinic in Vancouver, which is reputed to be the finest in the Country, for further diagnosis and or radiation treatments, chemotherapy, surgery and on and on.  I am wondering to myself why he (Filatov) just doesn't remove the lump right now.

I will wait for the results of the Panendoscopy before deciding what to do next.  Sorry to burden you with this terrible news.  I will keep you up to date as things progress.  Talk to you soon,

"Lumpy"