Recently, I was diagnosed with stage four cancer of my thymus. It is most likely thymoma but could be thymic carcinoma, treatment plans for both are the same. Nebraska Medicine and the Mayo Clinic have determined the tumor is inoperable because it has invaded my pericardium (the lining surrounding the heart) and is wrapped around my aorta and pulmonary arteries. In addition, my PET scan shows that the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes and some lesions on my bones. The current treatment plan is 18-24 weeks of intense chemotherapy, rescanning every 6-8 weeks to see how I’m responding. There is only a 30-40% chance that the chemo will shrink the cancer, so the main hope is that it will limit further growth and buy me time. They say it could be me two months or up to five years. I had my port placed yesterday, March 17th and my first chemo treatment is next Thursday at the Buffett Cancer Center.
A little bit of back story so I don’t have to repeat myself; I have had an occasional cough since November of 2021 that I thought was the cold or just sinus in nature. In January, I began having chest pain with shortness of breath during exertion, I thought that due to my occupation it could be COVID. The chest pain usually cleared up as soon as I got out of bed and had something to eat. Over the next six weeks I was tested for COVID three times and it all came back negative.
On February 13th I woke with chest discomfort that did not subside with over the counter medication, and I began getting short of breath just walking up the stairs. Knowing that it wasn’t a heart attack I went to the urgent care where they gave me an GI cocktail that did nothing to help. They also said my EKG and chest X-Ray was fine. Later that night, I went to the ER in Bellevue. They repeated an EKG and chest X-Ray, both of which came back fine. They did a chest CT with contrast and found a large mediastinal mass measuring 10cm by 8.2cm by 5.5 cm. (That’s about the size of a melon cut in half) Collin and I named it Tumi, they identify as they/them.
I’m sure a lot of you want to know how you can help. I’ve just been asking everyone to make sure they are taking care of themselves, and for those that you love. If I need anything I’ll certainly reach out. If you’d like to follow along on my progress you can download the Carebridge app or use this link:
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/codyscancercrewSite Name: codyscancercrew
If you have questions you are more than welcome to reach out to me, Collin, or my mom. Love and support can be shared but I don’t need to hear it at the moment, save it for the third of fourth chemo treatment when I don’t want to go anymore.
With all my love,
Cody
