You may want to sit down for this one

OK.  So.  I’m going to keep this short and to the point for now.  I found a lump on my neck.  It is not good.  It is lymphoma.  It’s not noticeable if I’m wearing shirt, but yeah, it’s not exactly hiding out either:

Last Monday I went to the doctor to get it checked out.  Blood work and a chest X-ray were ordered.  Something was seen on the chest X-ray and a I had a CT scan of my neck/chest/abdomen/pelvis done on Wednesday.  Results came Friday, and there’s a lot of swollen lymph nodes in my chest.  Like, the size of a softball.  In my chest, somewhere.  Where it all came from and how it all fits, I have no idea.  It’s big enough to constrict my windpipe and a major artery a bit, so I’m not exactly planning to just let it chill there.

I’m going into surgery tomorrow morning for a biopsy, where they’ll cut a chunk of that lump in my neck out to take a closer look and see what kind of lymphoma it is and what treatment path to go down.  Good news is, most lymphoma is treatable.  We just don’t know which kind it is yet.  If it’s Hodgkin’s, I’ll probably get put on chemo right away and I’m told it’s highly effective.

I have lots of support right now from family and friends, and I appreciate all of it, but right now, there’s not a lot of additional help I need.  I’m still pretty much fully functional, and plan on being back at work on Wednesday, because it helps to take the mind off things, so right now, we just kind of have to wait to take further action.

I think I’m taking everything pretty optimistically for now, but well, everything still feels a bit like a dream, and I’m a little floored by it all.  I nearly fainted in the doctor’s office today when I found out about the softball sized mass in my chest that’s trying to kill me.  Waiting is hard.  I’ll keep you all updated.