So one year ago, I was diagnosed. One year ago, I was terrified and devastated and had no idea what was to come next.
One year ago, I had a terrific mane of hair. One year ago, I had no idea that my life would be so different.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Melissa Peterson, I am forty-one years old, wife to Matt, mother of a darling six year old girl named Lucie, and I have late stage lung cancer. Non small cell adenocarcinoma of the lung, to be exact.
I was diagnosed after returning home from a lovely month-long fortieth birthday vacation in Italy. I had some weird things happen with my left arm while we were there (occasional numbness, tingling), and we could feel some hard lumps in my collarbone area. But it didn’t seem serious enough to warrant coming home early from the trip, that’s for sure.
When we got home, my doctor wasted no time getting answers (three days later — I was still dealing with jet lag!). I got a chest CT, a biopsy, a PET scan, all the things the doctors need to make a diagnosis and plan for treatment. Although my primary tumor in my lung is small, it had wreaked some serious havoc around my lymph system, brain, and bones.
I had some whole brain radiation, some hip radiation, and then started on chemo. Finished that up right before Thanksgiving last year, and waited to hear what, if anything we would be giving thanks for. Happily, the chemo (a mix of Cisplatin, Navelbeine and Erbitux) knocked out about half the cancer, which was fantastic news (and the lumps? Totally gone, unlike the ones in my gravy.)
Now I am on Alimta, an infusion I get once every three weeks, and I get scans every three months. So far, the Alimta is working to keep those pesky cancer cells at bay. But as we all know, all too well, life (and cancer) often takes unexpected twists. So I am waiting, and hopeful, and living with lung cancer.