The story

So, Joe slept on an uncomfortable couch just before Christmas and came home with back pain. The pain was continuous for the next two weeks and he was taking alot of pain killers and muscle relaxants to try to deal with it. The pain was so severe he couldn't work, so finally he decided to go to the doctor to get it adjusted. That helped for about half a day, and then it got really bad again. He made another appointment, but then when he woke up on the 9th, he went to the bathroom and peed blood.

He called the doctor, who told him to come right away. When he got there they did blood tests and found out that his platelets (which are supposed to be between 140 and 300, I'm guessing that's millions, but I'm not sure) were at 2. The doctor sent him to the ER, where they did more tests and found his platelets to be at 0. Just so you understand what that means, platelets are the part of your blood that causes clotting. When it gets below 20, your body loses the ability to maintain coherency. He had a rash that we just thought was heat rash or an allergic reaction or something, but it was the blood soaking through his skin. The blood in the urine was also because of this. They also did a cat scan and found a mass in his abdomen near his appendix. He was then admitted to the hospital.

Long story short, after numerous tests, scans, and even a bone marrow biopsy (I don't recommend getting one, it's no fun.) it turned out he has stage 4 large cell lymphoma. They keep having to give him transfusions because his body is killing all the blood that enters it, and today his platelets are up to 50, which is an all time high! He has a huge tumor in his abdomen, but they can't do anything about that until his blood is stablized. They did a spinal tap to see if the cancer had gotten into his brain, and it hasn't, thank God. They thought he had phumonia so they did a chest x-ray, but he doesn't. Maybe if he did, he would quit smoking, which I think he should do anyway!

This just in: they got the results of the bone marrow biopsy back. He has Burkitt's Lymphoma. It is extremely rare in the US, especially in adults. (Only 300 cases per year in the US, most of which are in children. It's rampant in Africa. But what ISN'T rampant in Africa, eh?) It is an extremely rapidly spreading and aggresive type, and treatment has to be equally aggressive, so he'll be getting chemo more often, and more of it. They'll actually be injecting treatments right into his spine. That's gotta suck! But, the doctor says that his prognosis is actually UP frm 60% chance to 90%, so good on him! It's usually caused by the translocation of a particular gene, and if you want to know which one, you'll just have to google it yourself.

We have no idea how much longer he'll be in the hospital, but the treatments for Burkitt's usually last about 4 months. I seriously doubt they'll keep him the whole time, probably they'll keep him until they can get him blood counts to stay up. I'll let you know more just as soon as I know. See ya soon!