Blessed me

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That's me and James yesterday. And Dup. He's always with me now. You just can't see him. He was helping to take that photo. We were all at the Mays Cancer Center in San Antonio yesterday for my CT scan.

I mean, our CT scan.

At one point in the process of prepping, everyone gathered around me where I lay on a table. 

There's Dr. John Yassa, Dr. Chul Ha and CT scan techs Nickie and Louis. That's when my emotions kicked in. 

I'm so blessed to have these people taking care of me, I thought as a tear slid out of my eye and onto the bridge of my nose. 

James leaned over me. "You ok?" 

"I'm just so grateful for everyone helping me," I murmured.

It's been a journey since I was first diagnosed with Dupuytren's disease. In September, I was discouraged when an orthopedic surgeon told me that the only option – because it's not curable – was surgery. He told me to come back in six months, and he'd check my hand again.

In the meantime, one of the first things I did was join several Facebook groups associated with the disease. There I was able to connect with people, mostly women, who were ahead of me in their own Dupuytren's journeys and chose low-radiation therapy as a treatment option.

Like Debra in Galveston. She's the one who connected me with Dr. Shalin Shah with M.D. Anderson in Sugarland. After an online consultation, Dr. Shah referred me to his colleague, Dr. Chul Ha with the Mays Cancer Center. 

So, yes, I am blessed. My first round of radiation begins Monday, December 9.  A second round will be scheduled in February. If all goes well, Dup will stop progressing and go into remission. If he doesn't, well, I tried. 

Whatever the outcome, me and Dup are in this together. 

 

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