Day 3



Christmas in Miles City, MT 1980. I'm holding the football.  My brother Tim is in front of me and my cousin Jolene is next to me.  On the floor  is my cousin Greg and the little one is Kristen (now an OBGYN).

 After the first day of testing was done the main problem was uncovered.  In my prostate was a mass the size of a softball.  During the cystoscopy a biopsy was done to determine what exactly the mass was.  It was obviously a large tumor, but was it benign or malignant?  Testing would continue, with  hopes that the problem was contained to my prostate and had not spread throughout my body.
 

At this point, I still did not know what was wrong.  The doctors and my parents do not involve me in any discussions about a tumor or possible cancer or treatment options.  As an ICU nurse, my mom is heavy into conversations with physicians and understands everything that is taking place.  Her medical knowledge and understanding would be a huge asset for us during this ordeal.  She always understood the terminology, what was going on, and took an active roll in my treatment.  When I say active, I mean like when "Shark Week" is on the Discovery channel and they are showing a great white shark attack a sea otter.  Over the next two plus years, when any caregiver arrived to give me medicine, check my vitals, take me for a procedure, etc., if they didn't bring their "A" game, my personal guard dog would unleash.  I have some great memories of my mom in action, but that will come later.    

By Wednesday, January 15th my family is rolling in and I'm playing a handheld football video game in bed.  My mom is one of six children (five brothers).  Our family has owned a plumbing business in Miles City, MT for nearly 100 years now.  Living in Miles City was my grandparents and three of my uncles and their families.  Only 140 miles away, they all arrived at the hospital for support.  My other uncle Chuck was living in Billings with his wife and kids and my uncle Tom was just south in Worland, WY.  We spent as much time with the Regan family as possible, so having them all arrive really improved my moral.  One thing that always happens when we are together is a lot of fun stories and laughing, and that is exactly what happened in my hospital room each day. 

Testing on this day was light and I only had an angiogram.  The next day would bring many more tests and some answers to what my diagnosis would be.

Jan. 14 Angiogram   

Angiogram

An angiogram is an x-ray test that uses a special dye and camera (fluoroscopy) to take pictures of the blood flow in an artery (such as the aorta) or a vein (such as the vena cava). An angiogram can be used to look at the arteries or veins in the head, arms, legs, chest, back, or belly.
Common angiograms can look at the arteries near the heart (coronary angiogram), lungs (pulmonary angiogram), brain (cerebral angiogram), head and neck (carotid angiogram), legs or arms (peripheral), and the aorta (aortogram).