An unexpected turn of events

Well, life took a very unexpetced turn for us today. I've been feeling ill for a while - since about December. It started with an innocent looking rash on my leg, which was treated but didn't respond. In January blood tests showed my hemoglobin to be low, so this lack of iron in the blood (and thus lack of oxygen-carrying capacity) explained my growing fatigue, but it was difficult to pinpoint a cause. Blood tests, a gastroscopy (to rule out ulcers and gluten-intolerance) and a colonoscopy (to rule out polyps) turned up nothing. On many tests I looked in excellent health, yet by February my breathing was getting much worse (shortness of breath is another side-effet of anemia). In late February my massage therapist noticed an enlarged lymph node. My GP and I watched it for a few weeks, and she thought it might be getting bigger so she sent me for a biopsy. Although lymphoma is of course a cause of lymph-node enlargement, it was still incredibly upsetting to get the diagnosis of lymphoma - and we did not know which kind. More worying, the CT scan of my chest showed a moderate to severe amount of fluid around my heart. This required immediate inpatient admission. We got to the ER at 8pm, and by midnight I was admitted to the oncology ward of the Royal Brisbane & Women's hospital, the third largest hospital in Australia and a leader in cancer research. Almost immediately, flowers and the odd stuffed penguin began to pour in....