When you have been a cancer patient, doctors are generally a lot more cautious with you. If anything comes back with so much of a sniff of being abormal, everything tends to go into panic mode and no stone is left unturned. That’s how it feels sometimes anyway. I guess this is …
Read More »Does it Ever Really Go Away?
In February 2010, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In September 2010, I was declared in remission. In December 2010, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and was told I would have to have the other half of my thyroid removed. In February 2011, I had it removed, and was told that it …
Read More »Life Moves On
A year ago today, I went for my end of treatment PET scan, which would go on to show that I had reached remission. As I’m sure you can imagine, the relief was wonderful. After seven long months, to find out that I had the all clear was the best news we …
Read More »Invisible Scars
I have many visible scars from various diagnostic procedures over the last 18 months. I have a scar on my ribcage from my chest drain, a scar just under my arm pit, and a scar just underneath my right breast, from my Hodgkin’s biopsy. I also have scars on my …
Read More »My Childhood Cancer Experience
I am often asked if I get tired of telling my story…the answer is no. Each time there is a different perspective to view it from, different lessons to learn from it, and new words to describe it. But most importantly, someone is hearing it for the first time, making …
Read More »Starting a New Fight
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned here before that I had to have thyroid surgery recently? When I was having my PET scans for my Hodgkin’s, they found a hot spot on my thyroid which didn’t change with treatment. I was referred to ENT and after a biopsy came back inconclusive, they decided to operate. …
Read More »One Year Later…
A year ago, I went for my chest x-ray, after going to see my GP the previous day. That chest x-ray was the thing I needed to start the ball rolling to get my final diagnosis. 48 hours after the x-ray (Thursday), I was to get a call telling me I needed …
Read More »It’s Not Fair!
Today, I had quite a big “It’s not fair” moment. Throughout my illness and my treatment, I’ve managed to avoid most of these, but not today. What, exactly tipped me over the edge, I don’t know. I have heard of people coping fine throughout their treatment, and then afterwards reflecting …
Read More »Remember the Time…
It’s been 2 months since I finished chemo, and it’s beginning to seem like a distant memory. It’s strange looking back and remembering that every 2 weeks I had to go for chemo, and that every week I’d have a blood test. And what about the fact that I used to have …
Read More »Lymphoma? What’s That?
Recently, I had the pleasure of helping out the Lymphoma Association at some Fresher Fairs. They were there to raise awareness of lymphoma as part of their PITS campaign. I don’t know what the stats are in the USA, but here in the UK, lymphoma is the most common cancer …
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