So I was sick for awhile. Ok, a long ass time. Pretty much the whole month of April.
I had a fever.
Crazy fevers. Fevers of 103, if I stopped taking Tylenol. I took a lot of cold baths. Woke up every night shivering uncontrollably. Dan would hold me and try and warm me up since I felt like I was so cold I was going to freeze in our bed. Couldn't eat. Had an absolute hatred of any kind of food. Which if you know me is not normal.
I lost 15 pounds (yay!) but missed a bunch of work (boo!). I went to convenient care a lot where the Dr. just told me I had a bad case of the flu and I wasn't taking enough Tylenol.
I finally went to my general practitioner and she ran a whole blood check up. Things looked weird at first but it was all put up to malnutrition due to me not eating for 3 weeks. Though I did find out I had Mono at some point in my life, but didn't have it now. I had a Vitamin D deficiency (that's what happens when you work 2 jobs, never see the sun) and they thought I had Lupus for about 5 seconds.
Finally May came and I began to feel more like myself.
I noticed though the lymph nodes in my neck were swollen. That was new. I finally called my general practitioner to see if I could get some tests done again.
We did more bloodwork and then had a chest X-ray done. The bloodwork came back fine but the chest X-ray showed more swollen lymph nodes. The Dr. called for a CT scan this time.
At the same time this was going on I had a pelvic ultrasound and blood tests done due to some fertility issues I've been having. I received a phone call from my fertility Dr. that I had PCOS the same day I got a call from my GP saying I needed to come in that day to talk about my CT scan. Needless to say I was worried about both, but everyone was saying that everything was fine.
When we went to talk to my GP she said it could be lymphoma but was probably an infection leftover from when I was sick. Something viral that hadn't gone away.
I had a needle biopsy on my lymph node in my neck.
The next day the Dr.'s office called and and told me I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. They actually told me on the phone! The nurse did apologize for doing so, but said the Dr. had to leave town and wouldn't be in the next day to meet with me. She said to make an appointment with an oncologist.
Tomorrow we go to the oncologist.
Hey Julie! My name's Sarah and I have to say its nice to find someone who's already been through what I'm going through. I've just had my ct results back and am going for an excisionial biopsy next week. What you're doing is inspiring. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I found this blog, My son was diagnosed with stage III Hodgkins in March 2011 (he was 14 at the time)
ReplyDeleteHe's been in remission for a year now but the late effects are still problematic. I find it almost therapeutic to read about someone elses story when its not so close to home if that makes sense.
I too started blogging when Nick got sick at the suggestion of the oncologist social worker... it was pretty helpful.
http://adjust-the-sails.blogspot.ca/2011/03/little-quote-with-big-meaning.html