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Hi there!

Note: This is added August 1st., 2003
These pages are receiving a new look today. I discovered the graphics of "Mary's Little Lamb," created just for people with cancer, and those who care for them. I thought it was so appropriate I am putting it on my pages. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you visit Mary's site.

I need to preface this page with a statement. This is not a sad page of illness, pain, and suffering. This is an informative page that is meant to tell my story, and to help any who may have use of it. There has been no pain involved in my illness, at least at this point, and that is one of the insidious attributes of lung cancer. For those whose cancer is not found until they have symptoms, the story of lung cancer is much different, and that is one reason I am writing this. If just one person discovers cancer before it is too late, I will be very thankful. And if anyone does so, I would appreciate being notified.

MY STORY:
I don't know when my story begins, except that it was sometime before I came to Alaska in 1998. We now think that I had a very slow growing tumor that has been in my body for a long time.

I have always been a healthy person, and it was a good thing, as I was one of those people who got actually physically ill when even visiting a hospital, just thinking about all the people there who were very ill. Over the years that dissipated somewhat, but I generally remained aloof from doctors and hospitals other than having the normal preventative tests that were necessary every year or two. I figured they were a better alternative than all the bother of getting something and having to go often, and perhaps even stay in a hospital. I wish I had kept that up.

When I had been in Alaska just a few months I began experiencing unusual, and very exaggerated allergic reactions, compared to what I had always had. I have never had asthma, but have always had seasonal allergies, and allergies to dust and dust mites. Now I had a strong allergy to molds, and spent my first year here down with the most severe sinus infections I had ever experienced. Along with that I became allergic to sulfa and penicillin. The next year I had terrible headaches, memory loss, and incredible tiredness, and had no idea why. My doctor said it was a hormone problem, and after months of therapy I did show signs of improvement. Then, after 2-3 months the allergies were back with a very exaggerated allergy attack, with such an intense tickle it created strong coughing due to drainage from my head.

I also had bouts of swelling. My feet and ankles swelled to where my toes looked like little sausages protruding from a big club. I could not even get a sock on. My feet began getting very "hot" and it took hours to get them to cool. They became tender and red. Finally, they cracked, split open and bled. I might mention here that I am a thin person, and my feet are normally very bony rather than plump. Then, once that was taken care of as much as possible, my face began swelling to the point where I looked like something from Star Trek, or someone with elephantiasis. I had to take care it did not effect my tongue or throat, as it could kill me. This went on for a little more than a year, and then the swellings went away. At this time my allergy attacks grew worse, and I began coughing hard enough that I bruised ribs a number of times, and broke my bladder loose from its underpinnings.

For more than 3 years I had been going to the same doctor, who treated my symptoms, but did not search for a cause. In all that time he never gave me any kind of physical, and did not actively "do" anything but give me pills for symptoms. Having always been a healthy person, I trusted him to know best what to do for me. However, my "illness," whatever it was, grew steadily worse. After two years, I had to quit work. The memory problems, the extreme tiredness, illness and frustration had put me into some pretty serious depression, and I was no longer able to get through the day.

I can't tell you how difficult it was for me to have my healthy body betray me like that, and to be unable to do all the things I'd always done. It was also very frustrating for my husband, and over time I began to see that some people did not believe there was really anything wrong. After all, the people in Alaska had never even seen me when I was well; what were they to believe? Through all of this the help of my loving husband and my faith in the Lord never wavered, but grew stronger, and those things kept me going.

Fairbanks is not known for having an outstanding medical community, but after searching around a year ago, I found a doctor that was highly recommended, and I went to him. I began by seeing his ANP (nurse practitioner) Michelle Aiken, whom I already knew, as she was briefly in the office of my old doctor. Very thorough and efficient, she put me through battery after battery of exhaustive tests to look for causes, and we were able to eliminate many things over a course of six months before sending me on to Dr. Nick Sarrimannolis. Dr. Nick continued exhaustive testing, as he is a very accomplished diagnostician, and it was through a simple chest x-ray that a mass showed up in my right lung.

They were not sure it was cancer at first, but once they were, I arranged for a trip to Oregon for treatment, immediately. We were already researching cancer centers, and praying about it a lot. My children are in Oregon, and we have friends there. We had heard very good things about St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Oregon, and I am very glad we were led by the Lord to go there for treatment. We actually researched a number of places on the west coast.

We hurriedly made plans and went to Oregon, where Dr. Robert Boone, my oncologist at Bend Memorial Clinic; my surgeon, a heart/thoracic surgeon named Dr. Edward Boyle, Jr., and my husband and I worked to set up a plan of attack.

I had a lot going for me, although most people (including doctors) think I am frail at first, due to the light frame of my body. I had not lost any weight yet, and in fact had gained 15 lbs. recently, so I was told to keep it up, and make sure I ate five-six small meals a day, all high protein. Since I had been abed most of the previous six months, I was told to get up each day and dress, and stay up except for a nap; and to walk. I needed exercise. Dr. Boone said the cancer was going to tell me I was tired, I needed sleep, etc., but to force myself each day until it became easier. The cancer would create big problems if I did not. They added more vitamins to what I was already taking, all geared to strengthen my auto-immune system, which would take a big hit with the chemo treatments.

A new piece of equipment there does a "PET Scan," and for lung cancer patients it is a great step forward. The equipment scans your entire body, much as a CT Scan, but you are given radioactive sugar, which causes all the cancer cells to show up, in any number over a few. It does not measure size, as a CT Scan does, but measures metabolism, so the active cancer cells show. Thus, instead of having to do biopsies in five or six important organs or locations, with one PET Scan they can identify cancer in other parts of the body. This helps them decide more intelligently how to design a plan to attack the cancer. Although it shortens and simplifies this step, we waited for the results with more than a little concern, but were also calmed by prayer and the knowledge that it was all in God's hands. We thanked Him profusely for the results; my PET Scan showed several swollen lymph nodes that were questionable, but would need biopsied as they were not conclusive. There was no cancer in any other organs in my body. One more hurdle had been passed.

While I was in Fairbanks Dr. Nick had done dopplers and ultrasounds of my veins and arteries, due to the foot problems I had, and found some peripheral vascular disease. He sent me to Anchorage for an angiogram, which showed my heart arteries were in good condition. I had no clots anywhere. He also gave me a cardiac stress test, which showed my heart to be in good condition. All that was left was to do a pulmonary stress test, which would show if my lungs were up to having surgery. I knew I had diminished lung capacity, and I wanted to be able to have the surgery, so this was important. It is quite an exhaustive test, but I did surprisingly well. Another hurdle passed.

Dr. Boyle did a surgery to biopsy some of the mediasteinum lymph nodes in my chest (between the lungs and in front of the heart). Some were on the right side (the same side as my tumor), while others were on the left. If any on the left were cancerous, it would rule out surgery, and there could be no cure for my lung cancer.

They can only do surgery on one side, and do only one surgery. Once the active tumor is removed, any stray cancer cells elsewhere in your body that are sitting dormant quickly become active. For that reason they have found that chemo done before surgery is a much better option than chemo and/or radiation afterward, which does not work well.

This was a full surgery with anesthesia, etc., where he made a 2" cut at the hollow of my throat, went down behind the trachea and in front of the heart, to remove the three lymph nodes in question.

At this point, Dr. Boyle was called away, and we waited a full week before we heard the results... and not an easy week. A lot hinged on the results of the surgery. What was the Lord's will in this? We were thrilled to learn that only one of the nodes had cancer, and it was on the right side. I could still have surgery, and a cure. Another big hurdle had been passed.

By this time, we had been in Oregon seven weeks! A few days waiting here, a few days there, a week while Dr. Boyle had a family medical emergency on the east coast... it all added up, and Jim, my husband, was rapidly running out of time away from work.

We discussed a number of options with Dr. Boone and Dr. Boyle. The chemo treatments they suggested would last nine weeks, with a four-week recovery for my body, then a week (give or take) in the hospital and another three weeks recovery before traveling home. This added up to roughly four months!

At first we considered doing just the surgery... but when Dr. Boyle said it would reduce the survival rate to possibly 15%, that was something neither Jim nor I were willing to accept. We would do the chemo, somehow.

The Bend, Oregon area is a very rapidly growing area, but the kind of housing we were looking for seemed non-existent, and setting up and furnishing an entire place was more expense than we could handle. We spent days exploring a number of options, none of which panned out, while they got the chemo started and I had my first treatment.

I nursed my mother-in-law when she had cancer 20 years ago, and had heard horrible horror stories since. You can imagine my surprise when they put two entire bags of intravenous liquid in, and I could not tell one bit of difference. They gave me an anti-nausea something before hand, and it worked wonders, I guess. A week later they put in a second dose of one of them. That was a week ago, and although I had no anti-nausea medication this time, I have had little nausea. I have pills I can take if needed, but have had to take only one.

Not only that, but they say I may not even lose my hair with what I am taking! That would be a blessing. I do not have a well-formed or good looking bald head. If I should lose it, however, I will get to buy a lot of hats! I should know in a couple of weeks, from what friends tell me.

There is only one oncologist in Fairbanks, Alaska (Dr. Michael Carroll), but Dr. Boone happens to know him personally, and a number of other people in Oregon in the oncology field complimented him highly. Then a call came that they needed Jim to do some experiments at work. It seemed as if God wanted us here. We finally decided to come home to finish the chemo here with Dr. Carroll, do our waiting here, and return to Oregon for the surgery.

That is all set up now, including a place to stay while we are there. Now that we are home, my next chemo treatment is all arranged with Dr. Carroll, and will take place as scheduled next week, March 17.

Each step we have taken on this journey has been a big one, and we attribute passing each of these hurdles to our faith, and that of our family and friends. Each time we could have had bad results, the Lord has listened to our prayers and through His will we are still having positive results to everything. If you will keep checking, I will keep you informed of our progress.

TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH:
Okay, that is the bare bones of my story, but that is not what this is about. What this is about is probably best summed up in the word "assertiveness."

The "old days" of having a lifelong family doctor who has time to care thoroughly for each of his patients do not exist. There are incompetent doctors, and those who are good are overbooked and overworked. Dr. Nick told me, after a mixup, that I must not hesitate and wait around on pins and needles for someone to contact me. If they did not get back to me with results within a few days I needed to be as persistent as necessary to see that it was corrected. I must take charge and responsibility for my body, and my health. I must be assertive.

Once I arrived in Oregon, I found the same situation. Dr. Boone worked until late Sunday nights if necessary to get back to me, but because he does give every patient all the time they need, it is difficult for him, or any good doctor, to keep up. There are a lot of people with cancer.

If my first doctor here had simply done a physical exam, or a chest x-ray (something that was commonly done on smokers every two years at one time), my cancer would have shown up. I wondered about that, but did nothing. I was not assertive. I had not had a chest x-ray in seven years.

Ultimately, it is my life, and I alone am responsible for it. I don't doubt that if I had asked for a chest x-ray, it would have been given to me. I have looked through my medical records, and every single appointment up to the point of discovering the cancer has the same notations by all doctors for my lungs: even breathing, not labored, etc. My lungs sounded great when they listened.

I had no symptoms of cancer at all. I did not have a cough. I did not have shortness of breath, I had not lost weight, I had no irregular white blood cells. There was no clue. And, after talking it over with my doctors, that is often the case. I found that everyone asked how it had been discovered, because many lung cancer cases, those with symptoms in particular, are not discovered until the cancer has metastasized (has spread to other organs), and this precludes having surgery or a cure. I was truly blessed.

HOW DO YOU TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR OWN HEALTH?
Well, first, if you smoke and have not had a chest x-ray in more than two years, for heaven's sake call a doctor and ask for one. Doesn't matter if you are going to a doctor now or not. Just get one, and don't delay. The old adage of "what you don't know won't hurt you" does not apply in this case. Just the opposite; it will hurt you. In fact, it will kill you. No symptoms does not mean no cancer. I always thought that there would at least be a cough if there was a problem of any kind, but that was wrong thinking on my part.

You need to make sure you get good health care. You need to be informed, you need to ask questions, ask questions, ask questions. Search until you find a good doctor, and then use him. Any time you have changes going on in your body and know it, you need to take charge of pursuing them until you get results. Don't expect a doctor to have time to take care of everything for you.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE KNOWING YOU HAVE CANCER?:
Well, I can only answer this for myself. We each have to handle it in our own way. I found the Lord five years ago, so I know He has a purpose for this. Perhaps it is to write about it; perhaps it is something else, but I rest firmly in His arms and wish only to serve Him in whatever small way I can.

When they first told me they thought I had cancer, I cried a bit, but I don't think anyone who has smoked all their adult life can be too surprised if they contract cancer. By the time they were sure it was cancer, three months later, I was ready to accept it. In fact, after four years of searching for the cause of my health problems, it was a relief to have something tangible to fight and rid myself of; to restore myself to health.

Both Jim and I began this without a doubt that the Lord's will would be done, but that we would also do our part. We have hundreds, perhaps thousands of people praying on my behalf across the country, and a wonderful support group of family and friends. How can we let them down? The outpouring of love, help and concern has been truly astounding.

I already knew, from nursing my mother-in-law, how important attitude is in the fight against cancer, and I worked tirelessly to infuse that will in her, to no avail. At that time cancer was a very scary word, and when she was given the diagnosis, she could not force herself to fight it. Jim and I have had a number of hurdles to overcome in our life together, and we look on this as just another hurdle, albeit a large one.

We try to keep this as much in perspective as we can, and continue to have an uplifting attitude about it. We are both inquisitive people, and Jim goes with me whenever I see the doctor. We ask a lot of questions. It became a standing joke that I was going to whip out the duct tape to tape up his mouth if he did not allow me at least equal time to ask questions, or voice concerns to the doctor. You can make a joke of most anything if you are up to it, and we continue to do so.

Of course, I am speaking only for myself, but I noticed that a number of others on chemo that I met there kept up their spirits with joking and treating it lightly. Besides, what is the alternative? I try to keep that before me all the time.

My doctors and others tell me I am a very strong person. Well, I don't always feel that way, but I have so very much to live for that I am going to do all in my power to see that I rid myself of this, if the Lord wills it.

WHEN WILL I SEE RESULTS OF TREATMENT?
Well, this may surprise you. It certainly did surprise us! After my first biopsy here in Fairbanks, my lung partly collapsed and I had some shortness of breath. It did not go away. We were at a higher altitude in Oregon (4250 ft. compared to 600 ft. or so here) and perhaps the cancer became more active. It began to get worse. However, the morning after my first dose of chemo, it was much better, and I could walk more than twice as far before huffing and puffing! When we told the doctor he was very happy, but not surprised. He said that you can experience as much as a 50% reduction in the tumor with the first chemo treatment!

I have to tell you that I feel better right now than I have felt in three years. What a blessing it is! I wake up each day overjoyed with a good feeling inside. I am still weak, and can't do what I want sometimes, but to feel even the beginnings of health is absolutely wonderful.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO SOMEONE WITH CANCER?
Someone with cancer is just like someone with any illness. You tell them what you feel. You ask how you might help them. If they are a close friend or relative, take or send them little surprises. Surprise them with food gifts they love if they are having trouble eating. You take them places you know they'd like to go if they are able; you treat them just as you always did. You mustn't let your fear of the word cancer come between you and alienate you just when they need support the most. They already feel alone and alienated; you must do all you can to let them know that all is the same. They face alarming and scary things all the way through treatment, regardless of the outcome, and they need someone normal, and normal, fun and happy things. You can provide all that. You can be some of the best medicine they have.

I want to be sure that you know I am not trying to downplay the fear, the pain and agony that this disease can cause. I do not know what lies ahead for me. I can only take it one day at a time, one step at a time, and that is what I am doing. I know others who have suffered greatly with lung cancer, and many will still do so. If I do not, it will be due to having found it as soon as we did. If it had been discovered sooner, it would have been better. It is because of that, and the hope that this information can be to the benefit of others, that I am writing this to share with all of you.

March 9, 2003
Two Rivers, Alaska

Marcie Foley

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page updated August 1, 2003