This blog is the second in a series.
I’m in the second-opinion hematologist’s waiting room, wondering why I’m only seeing doctors who specialize in blood. I’ve got cancer, not anemia.
The other thing that takes me aback is the ghostliness of the other denizens of this and the first doctor’s waiting room. They are all considerably older than I am, less mobile, and very, very pale. I feel as though I’ve stumbled into a waxworks. I have to consciously fend off a flight response; I feel fine. I am not of this world. This is all a mistake and I should just get up and leave. I whisper to my husband, who has accompanied me as a second set of ears, “Let’s get out of here. Now.”
Looking back on that initial visit, I’m embarrassed at my younger untutored self. I know now that my non-Hodgkin lymphoma(NHL) – and the 80 or so variations, and Hodgkin disease, plus all the varieties of leukemia, and several other afflictions – is a blood cancer. And it turns out that in the world of cancer, that qualifies as good news. Blood cancers are more accessible for researchers than many other cancers. Drawing blood for samples and follow up is much easier than doing biopsies of solid tumors. Advances in understanding and treating blood cancers are leading the progress toward cures not just for blood cancers, but are showing promise for other cancers as well. In fact, in the past 10 years, 40% of all the new cancer drugs approved by the FDA have been for blood cancers.
I know that now, but I didn’t then. I was just terrified.