Timeline of Trouble (in reverse order)

• Upcoming appointments: pelvic xray on my way home from Lake County, at Geary. 
• Solitary retreat Dec 22-27 - yay! 
• December 22 - Notes from conversation w Dr Catherine Powell [backup while Dr Littell is on vacation]: 
  • The tumor cells in the urine mean just that the cells are around, does not mean the cancer has traveled to the bladder. 
  • PET scan – doesn't show another origin; this test is not very specific – did light up pelvic bone near tumor – could just be mass itself. Should get xrays just in case. (CAT scan didn't show anything in bones.) 
  • Chemo usually starts 1-2 weeks after initial consult. Yes, usually gets worse/more tired cumulatively. 
  • Is the tumor growing fast? She said if there was no sign of it in May and it's 5cm now, that's pretty fast!
• December 21 - Went with Padmatara to a 2-hour chemotherapy class a Kaiser. Very helpful. Got this note from the Dr Thomas, the urologist, "The cytology report does show tumor cells in the urine as expected. You should talk to Dr. Littell about this and about the PET-CT when those results are available."
• December 20 - PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography) in Santa Clara. They shoot you up with radioactive sugar (a quote from the nurse who explained it to me), leave you lying down in a dark room for about an hour, then spend about 20 minutes in a CT scan like machine which is a lot more sensitive. it finds areas of sugar or intense metabolic activity.
• December 19 - Cystoscopy ('cyst', at least in this case, means bladder) with excellent urologist Dr Thomas. Procedure sometimes causes infection so was given antibiotics. After taking first one, broke out in super itchy hives. note to self: allergic to sulfa drugs.
• December 16 - Meet with lovely ObGyn oncologist, Dr Ramey Littell. "Tell me everything" was my approach. Pals Julie and Padmatara came with me to this and subsequent appointments. Dr Littell ordered various tests to ensure that the vagina is the primary cancer. 
• December 6 - Poking around online in my info at Kaiser, happen to look under 'Ongoing conditions" and find out I have cancer! Diagnosis dated November 21. (I did write a letter to kaiser...)
• December 5 - After the last test, I thought they did not have a real diagnosis and started seeing an acupuncturist, who asked for medical records.
• November 4 - Made a same-day appointment at Kaiser with a new (available) doctor. Had many more subsequent appointments - which included a vaginal biopsy, a uterine biopsy, an ultrasound, and a CT Scan. The doctor didn't tell me that I have cancer, or at least not in a way that I got it. Looking back on it, it was all rather obvious, but since i figured I'd be the last person on earth to get cancer, I really needed to hear that word in order to understand. He said he didn't want to alarm me. Yet being alarmed is...appropriate!
• October 3 - I start my period, but it didn't stop - for weeks and weeks. Also was experiencing a lot of fatigue.
• May 6 - Normal annual exam. Perimenopause ongoingly problematic, but not unusual (frequent periods, fatigue, depression, possibly anemia.)