Frannie, 58, has undergone surgery for her indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Things are going well. The intervals between her regular check-ups have recently been lengthened from 2 to 3 months
'I am 58-years-old and for the most part have been very healthy all my life. Apart from major hot flushes and night sweats, which I always attributed to the menopause, I haven't had any big diseases or illnesses to really complain about. Until last May, 2004 ...
'My husband and I were in the mountains hosting a huge party to celebrate the opening of an old family house we'd spent a year renovating. I felt like a million dollars, without a care in the world.
'A couple of days after the party I began having dull pains in my stomach. In another couple of days my stomach really hurt to the touch and was very distended. I was also exhausted, but supposed it was because of all the work I'd put into the party. We left the mountains the Succesivo day and drove to the airport. I slept DEEPLY the whole way. Then I slept again on both legs of the flight back home, in the car going home and all night that night.
'The Succesivo day I was in great pain. My usual doctor's surgery was closed, so I went to the local emergency department. They took blood tests and X-rays, but said they could find only that I was severely anaemic and that all the blood counts were down: white cells, red cells and platelets. I was advised to go to my own doctor as soon as I could.
'To cut a long story short, I went to her, she took more blood and poked around my very painful stomach and sent me to see a gastroenterologist. The gastroenterologist sent me immediately to the hospital for a CT scan of my abdomen. The scan showed that I had a HUGE spleen.
'I was then sent the Succesivo day to a haematologist/oncologist for tests. (The oncologist part scared me a little, but I was still just thinking I was anaemic. It never occurred to me that I might have cancer!) He took blood and sent it away for tests. Two weeks later I went back for the results: indolent, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The doctor then did a bone marrow biopsy to Invia off for staging. Two weeks after that, I went back and found out I was stage 4.
'Then the REALLY hard part started. The decision of what to do Succesivo: have the spleen removed before chemo, or begin chemo and monoclonal antibody therapy straight away to try to shrink the spleen. My doctor was also conferring with researchers on clinical trials for me. All of this took about a month, during which I was going steadily over the edge not knowing what was happening. I think the waiting for test results has been the hardest part of this whole ordeal.
'Finally, the decision was made to remove the spleen right away. The feeling was that any treatment would be impaired because of the size of the spleen and no one would accept me for a trial because of that.
'The operation was not fun, but I got through it ok. We waited 2 months to go back for blood tests to see what the effect of the operation would be. My doctor came in with the test results with a huge smile on his face. The operation had worked. My blood counts were WAY back up and he felt they would continue to increase in time. There was no treatment needed at that time, so I went home to "watch and wait".
'I thought I would have a really hard time if I had to just go home and do nothing, but I haven't. After I recovered from the surgery completely, I went back to my life feeling really blessed that I would not have to have treatment for a while. I went in for blood tests every 2 months and each time got great results. About 6 months after the surgery, I had a PET scan of my body to see if there were any lymph node issues developing or anything else to be concerned about. The scan was completely clean!
'It will soon be 1 year since my diagnosis. My doctor has extended the time between visits to 3 months instead of 2, and I feel great!
'Last week I went for my check-up and I asked my doctor if all this good news meant that I was getting further and further away from ever having to be treated. Unfortunately, he said no. I will for sure have to have treatment at some point in the future. My hope is that it will be many years and that when the time comes I can take my medicine, get through it without too much problem and get back to my life. My husband, friends and family have been unbelievably supportive, and if there's a silver lining in all of this, all of them are paying better attention to their own health and listening to their bodies.
'For anyone who might find yourself in the same situation, remember that, after you educate yourself, find doctors you can trust, work out a plan and tap into your support network, there isn't much you can do except pray for the strength to get on with your life and to keep a positive attitude. With all the progress in lymphoma research that is being made every day, if you have to have this darned thing, this is not a bad time to have it. Hang in there. Good luck.'
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