Post by spainy79 on Jan 4, 2017 12:56:23 GMT -5
Some of you already know about my condition from being FB friends but this is just a thread to give a little more in depth look of what all happened in Nov and Dec (mainly Dec).
I am currently battling stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I first got sick at the beginning of November but didn't think anything of it. I got sick a second time in November and was down for 5 days. Still didn't think anything of it. I was on vacation pretty much the entire month of November as well. On Dec 2 before work I really got sick and had to call in. My parents came over to my house later that evening and they brought a thermometer with them (I didn't have one at the time). I was running a fever of a 103.5. I took some tylenol and broke the fever within a half hour. The fever returned within 12 hours. I continued to take tylenol and the fevers kept returning. Went to the Dr Monday morning (Dec 5) and was sent to the hospital the next day for test. That was when they gave me the news that it might be cancer. They referred me to an oncologist in Terre Haute at Union and I went up the next day for an appt. After lots of blood draws and tests the Dr asked how soon I wanted to get started to make sure this is what was actually happening. I told him as soon as possible and I was admitted to Union that evening (Dec 7). I went through a minor surgery to have part of a lymphnode removed to see what kind of cancer it was. This turned out to be a week long waiting game as the pathologist at Union couldn't determine what it was and it had to be sent off to Indy. Finally they made the call on the Hodgkins. A ct scan done at Greene co hospital revealed a swollen spleen with a mass next to it. When the Dr decided that chemo was the best route they would just let the chemo take care of the mass rather than go in and remove the spleen and mass. The swollen spleen was causing all my fevers as well. Got released and some time passed and had a follow up a week later. They drew blood and that evening at 930pm the Dr called me and said that I was jaundiced and needed to be readmitted to the hospital for treatment. What happened was the cancer moved over to my liver and blocked the bile from leaving my body. This all happened on Dec 21 and was admitted the morning of the 22. That evening I got my first round of chemo. It took a little over 3 hours to administer all of it and at the end I was shaking like a leaf. It was late and I was half asleep. The next morning we asked the Dr what the shaking was and he said it was the chemo killing cancer cells. I pretty much slept all day on the 23 and started to feel better on the 24. What happened was the cancer was not near my liver anymore and my spleen had shrunk back to its normal size. When this happened the fevers stopped. Haven't had one since. I ended up getting 2 units of blood on Christmas day and was finally released later that evening around 6pm. Round 2 of chemo will take place Thursday morning. Interested to see how it will go considering the first round was actually not bad. That's pretty much it as of now. The Dr did say I will probably lose my hair and quite frankly if I'm going to I just want it to go ahead and fall out and be done with it. If it was warmer outside I would just go ahead and shave it but I'll hang onto it for as long as possible due to the cold weather. I'll get chemo once every 2 weeks until June. I will say that I have my appetite back and am eating well. I've lost more weight than I care for at the time being but it's to be expected.
I am currently battling stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I first got sick at the beginning of November but didn't think anything of it. I got sick a second time in November and was down for 5 days. Still didn't think anything of it. I was on vacation pretty much the entire month of November as well. On Dec 2 before work I really got sick and had to call in. My parents came over to my house later that evening and they brought a thermometer with them (I didn't have one at the time). I was running a fever of a 103.5. I took some tylenol and broke the fever within a half hour. The fever returned within 12 hours. I continued to take tylenol and the fevers kept returning. Went to the Dr Monday morning (Dec 5) and was sent to the hospital the next day for test. That was when they gave me the news that it might be cancer. They referred me to an oncologist in Terre Haute at Union and I went up the next day for an appt. After lots of blood draws and tests the Dr asked how soon I wanted to get started to make sure this is what was actually happening. I told him as soon as possible and I was admitted to Union that evening (Dec 7). I went through a minor surgery to have part of a lymphnode removed to see what kind of cancer it was. This turned out to be a week long waiting game as the pathologist at Union couldn't determine what it was and it had to be sent off to Indy. Finally they made the call on the Hodgkins. A ct scan done at Greene co hospital revealed a swollen spleen with a mass next to it. When the Dr decided that chemo was the best route they would just let the chemo take care of the mass rather than go in and remove the spleen and mass. The swollen spleen was causing all my fevers as well. Got released and some time passed and had a follow up a week later. They drew blood and that evening at 930pm the Dr called me and said that I was jaundiced and needed to be readmitted to the hospital for treatment. What happened was the cancer moved over to my liver and blocked the bile from leaving my body. This all happened on Dec 21 and was admitted the morning of the 22. That evening I got my first round of chemo. It took a little over 3 hours to administer all of it and at the end I was shaking like a leaf. It was late and I was half asleep. The next morning we asked the Dr what the shaking was and he said it was the chemo killing cancer cells. I pretty much slept all day on the 23 and started to feel better on the 24. What happened was the cancer was not near my liver anymore and my spleen had shrunk back to its normal size. When this happened the fevers stopped. Haven't had one since. I ended up getting 2 units of blood on Christmas day and was finally released later that evening around 6pm. Round 2 of chemo will take place Thursday morning. Interested to see how it will go considering the first round was actually not bad. That's pretty much it as of now. The Dr did say I will probably lose my hair and quite frankly if I'm going to I just want it to go ahead and fall out and be done with it. If it was warmer outside I would just go ahead and shave it but I'll hang onto it for as long as possible due to the cold weather. I'll get chemo once every 2 weeks until June. I will say that I have my appetite back and am eating well. I've lost more weight than I care for at the time being but it's to be expected.
Just another night at work for me and Monty will be back here again bright and early. 
