Hello Everyone! How I got here.

Hi Friends! 
So back in January I had some swollen lymph nodes in my neck and it was almost like a golf ball sized ball in between my neck and my clavicle. I went to go get it checked and had blood work done as well as an ultrasound to check it out. Blood work came back normal as well as the ultrasound. They assumed it was probably from a past infection or sickness that was just now making my way out of my body, or possible inflammation from our Dune trip in October that it could be from whiplash. So I didn’t over react because my primary didn’t seem too concerned. 

About a month later I returned because the swelling was the same and it did not go away. Another ultrasound was done and still nothing to show any concerns. So I just continued to live my life, I started to develop back pain in between my shoulder blades and in my neck and at one point I wasn’t even able to lift my head up from bed. I had to roll off the bed and then use my hands to physically lift my head up. This pain was excruciating and NOTHING like I’ve felt before. Again, went to the doctor and they sent me to an ENT and just gave me muscle relaxers to try to help the pain. I asked if I could continue doing to the chiropractor because we just assumed at this point that I could possibly just have a pinched nerve, they said they didn’t see an issue for me to stop going but I was still concerned about my neck being swollen that I wanted to go to a specialist to ease my mind. 

The ENT did not think that my swollen lymph nodes were the reason that my back was hurting and we’re going to order a CT with contrast. A week went by and I heard nothing so I assumed there was an insurance issue that it was taking a while to get approved, so i didn’t see any urgency if no one else was concerned enough to rush any orders so I continued living and working and having fun. The back pain has been at a 10/10 for almost 3 months now and I’ve just learned to live with the pain and get over it. 

Finally last week I started to get nerve pain in my arm that i couldn’t shake or focus on anything but my arm, i was so tired and i could barely finish any simple tasks. Valen basically knew how stubborn I’ve been about going to the ER and finally just convinced me to go. We get to the ER do the scans that were supposed to be done that were never fulfilled and the doctor comes back and asks me about my pain level. I told him no real pain but about a 10/10 on the annoyance level because nerve pain is just not something i can ignore. He then proceeded to ask me about my neck pain and I said about a 5 because I’ve already been living with this back pain for months now that I’ve just kind of accepted it because I figured I’m just getting older and everything hurts. Lol 
He then proceeds to tell us that he is shocked that I am not paralyzed and that my entire c7 vertebrae has been deteriorated and that the only thing that can really eat through a bone is a tumor. He obviously used more medical lingo and the nurse basically asked if we wanted it broken down so that we could understand what he’s getting at and she told us he’s telling you that you have cancer in your bone and that’s what caused this. In shock we’re still not fully comprehending what’s going on and he comes back with a photo of the CT scan and shows us where it was completely missing. 🫠 
 
So I’ve been just working, going to the chiropractor and just having fun with a completely broken neck and the pain I’ve been feeling was because of other swollen lymph nodes in my body pressing against things. I also had a UTI and that was caused by a lymph node pressing against something that i can’t remember lol i will edit when i remember what it was called. 

But yeah. That’s basically how we got here! I will update you guys more on the hospital and my tumor removal and that journey soon! I’m going to try my best in between new doctors and appointments. 

I just wanted to thank everyone again for your support through this crazy and challenging time and thank you for reading if you got this far!!! Love you!