Emily's Fight With Cancer

 

A month later, I noticed that I was still nauseous after eating only a little bit. It took forever for me to feel hungry. If I was hungry, absolutely nothing sounded good. I was always tired, which was only further exasperated when I had to take up a second job. I would go to job one, come home to pass out on the couch for a few hours, then go to job two before I came home and passed out early. I was cold all the time - normal for me, but now I was extra cold. Somewhere along the way, blood began entering my stool but I chalked it up to a lack of certain nutrients and lingering Covid symptoms. It was easy to push it to the back burner because I was constantly busy. 

 

On January 26th, I had a routine physical which included lab work. I got the message from my doctor that I needed to go back immediately for additional tests because I was only two points away on the anemic scale from needing transfusions. We tried to figure out what it could be from and that's when my doctor asked about the blood in my stool. More tests were done and I was at the gastroenterologist the following week. On February 9th, a colonoscopy was performed and I woke up to the news that cancer had been found. On February 23rd, a CT scan showed it's progressed enough to move to my liver and lymph nodes. If the cancer had stayed localized to my colon, then only surgery would have been required. With my liver and lymph nodes compromised, I now will have to undergo chemotherapy before anything else to condense the cancer cells and make it easier to cut it all out in one go. 

 

At this time, I expect to be unable to work for 6-8 weeks if things go well. I'm lucky to have benefits through my job at Starbucks, which should hopefully cover most of the medical side of things. I still need to meet my yearly deductible as well as my out-of-pocket max. Along with those costs, I am responsible for my normal bills like helping my mom pay rent, my car payment, credit card, and phone. 

 

Any support received I'm so very grateful for and I covet your prayers and good thoughts for myself and my family during this time.