How Did I End Up In A Chomotherapy Chair?

Today I'm sitting in a comfy chair at valley Medical Center in Renton, Washington getting my first dose of cancer-attacking drugs.  It's Day One of what may be a six-to-eight month process.  So, how did I get here?

Back in May 2014 I'd been doing a bunch of yard york - you know how after a lot ofphysical work you feel a few knots in your shoulders? (Especially if you are a desk jockey like I am.)  I felt a few small lumps between my neck and shoulders, attributing them to a couple of knots in the muscles due to overexertion. But these did't go away after a few days.  I really noticed that a small lump had shown up on my jaw-line beneath my left earlobe.  "I's probably nothing, or it could be something," I thought to myself. So I decided to get it checked out. 
I told a co-worker "I hope this is just a benign growth, and not something that is going to change my life for the next three years."

It turns out, this is something.

After two cell draws/biopsies, a bone marrow draw, an upper CAT Scan, a total body CAT Scan, a PET Scan, and a lymph node removal (that pesky initial jawline lump) over the course of two and a half months, I have been diagnosed with B-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes.

Unlike a smoker getting lung cancer, for example, there isn't a specific cause.  Just the luck of the draw.  

Lymphoma is very treatable, and if you get the type I have, the odds are pretty good - just don't ask me the odds of getting lymphoma.  We are expecting a good outcome.

Before Michelle Obama took it upon herself to campaign for healthier school lunches, other First Ladies had their cause.  Nancy Reagan was "Say No to Drugs."  Sorry Nancy, today I am sauying yes to druges...and they're legal! And so it goes.