Burkitt’s Lymphoma Recovery Tip #6 Hernias Are Hiding

Man I’ve got a headache. Not so bad that I won’t write our super fantastic tip. Ready? 

BEWARE OF HERNIAS. Odd kind of tip, I realize that. But it is important nonetheless. Depending on what goals you are trying to achieve you may put pressure on a spot on your body where you had a tumor removed. It goes kind of like this – you go in and they remove a tumor, some surgeon gives you a preliminary diagnosis of lymphoma, when you achieve the minimum amount of healing you go to the hematologist, and he says, “Holy Toledo you have Burkitt’s, we need to get you to the hospital to start chemo.”

The problem is, the minimum amount of healing isn’t complete healing. So when you start chemo and your platelets drop, the internal healing of you incision and other stuff they cut through can slow way down and even occur unevenly.

So depending on your goals, you might feel a pull here or tension there, or even a teensy weensy lump near the incision, which might be some type of hernia.

If you feel this and are planning to run a marathon get you surgeon to give this a second look.

Burkitt's Lymphoma Recover Tip #5 Setting Goals

So you ticker is working, you did an audit, and now it is time to set some goals. Slow down there you Burkittian you, we still got some more preparation work to do. Remember you can tell how tall a skyscraper is by the depth of the foundation. Let’s be thoughtful here.

If you can avoid returning to work and not face too much hardship, take this time to reflect and work on some SMART goals, you all know that acronym SMART -- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-based. What is it you want to accomplish with this new life you have? Do you want to rush back to work? Do some volunteer work? Write your memoir? Paint the kitchen?  (That’s what I did.) Take some time and figure it out – you may never get this chance to take a bit of time and be reflective. Remember, you’ve been through a lot and now is no time to get too aggressive (there will be plenty of time for that later, trust).

This should be a psychic as well as physical goal session. I mean really -- what do you want to be? Really!?

Burkitt's Lymphoma Recovery tip #4 personal audit chart

Came up with this goofy chart. This worked for me, but different things might be important to you. Regardless, the point is to develop some criteria to, as objectively as possible, evaluate where you are and where you want to go. For example when I got sick I was able to do about 65 pushups. After Chemo it was closer to five. Obviously that told me I had lost strength and had to adjust my life accordingly or work on that area to improve my strength. If you like to hike you could compare your walking endurance before and after chemo. All these things take great intellectual honesty. Lying to yourself is the worst thing you can do. I lost some verbal ability and can’t banter as quickly as I did before chemo, so I’ve had to adjust my interpersonal exchanges accordingly.

So unless you are a superman/woman you lost something. You’re no longer faster than a speeding bullet, you can’t change the course of mighty rivers, and you’re not more powerful than a locomotive. That can be bitter pill to swallow if you’re not ready to start again. In a lot of ways ALL OVER AGAIN, but if you are there are new journeys to take and new discoveries about you. It can be quite a fun. So when you find out you’ve changed, don’t stick your thumb in your mouth and cry for more than a day. Get back in the fight, because we need you, your family needs you, and you need you.

Burkitt's Lymphoma Recovery Tip #3

Burkitt’s Lymphoma Tip #3 Personal Audit

Okay so you’ve been through what seems like a gagillion rounds of chemo, had every side effect there is and now it’s over. Well, in the words of Yogi Bera. “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.” It’s more likely than not your pretty beat up. You might have some neuropathy that makes your feet scream, a scar somewhere from a tumor removal, and any number of other issues from Burkitt’s – the gift that keeps on giving. The point is, it’s time for a personal audit. You need to take as dispassionate a look at yourself as you can and figure out how beat up you are physically, mentally, and emotionally. This is a wicked important step as it will help you establish your goals for the next few years. That’s right I said years – as miserable as you’ve been, you’re gonna get better and last for years. I’ll develop a goofy checklist and post it tomorrow.

Burkitt's Recovery Tip #2

Burkitt’s Lymphoma Recovery Tip #2

Get your heart checked out before you go too crazy. One of the nastier and insidious side effects of all the chemo you received is that you heart may go on the fritz for a while. Pay special attention to the Ejection Fraction ( a good definition is available at (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejection_fraction) . Surviving Burkitt’s chemo and then dying of a heart attack or stroke is just too sad. The good news is – at least for me – the further you get away from the chemo the more things return back to normal (relative term I guess). Get you ticker checked and ask you doc lots of questions.

Lymphoma Recovery Defined

Since I've been recovering for a while I thought I'd come up with some notes about the process. I figure the best place to start is with a definition. Many of you have seen this before from the 75 cancer tips.
http://billsburkittsrecovery.blogspot.com/2013/11/top-75-cancer-tips.html
Anyway here is the definition I've come up with, "Recovery is a continuous individual process that attempts to return a Burkitt’s Lymphoma patient to a quality of life that allows him/her to pursue happiness within the confines of their new physical and psychological condition. Recovery begins at diagnosis and lasts for the remainder of the patient’s life."

Okay, maybe one more

Good morning all:

Quite a day yesterday. Here goes. For 21 years I was a soldier. I spent my time in infantry, tank, and cavalry units. I was steely-eyed, camouflage wearing, defender of freedom. Very little scared me.

Yesterday I came face-to-face with one of the few things that puts me thru my paces – a building full of middle school kids. That’s right – those little life affirming units of potential that have one speed – fast; and one volume setting – loud.

Having had a dosage of IVIG last week I looked at each one of these little darlings not so much as loving little smookies, but rather as germ bombs. In reality that’s what they are, kid crud carriers.

I had forgotten about their germ content when I said I would help mentor a bunch of them at a Junior Achievement BIZ Town day. Junior Achievement – except for being a breeding ground for medical maladies – is a wonderful program that teaches kids the value of working together, goal setting, and business fundamentals.

So anyway I get there and I am assigned about a dozen of these bio- terrorists in disguise and we start the project (there were 100 kids there).

When I first got there I had to fill out a name label and the lady at the front door said, “Just put what you want kids to cal you on the label. You know like Mr. Bill, Bill, Mr. Potter.”

Anyway I wrote “Superman” on my label and refused to tell the kids my secret identity. Throughout the day my kids needed my help they would yell, “Superman! Superman!”

What a great way to spend a day.

Oh and I probably didn’t get sick’ let’s see if the IVIG holds.