This amazing doctor explains & breaks down my specific blood cancer - Hodgkins Lymphoma (which is also called Hodgkins Disease) perfectly!!!! Hodgkins Lymphoma is a blood cancer, like Leukemia, NON-Hodgkins Lymphoma & Myeloma. Hodgkins is a cancer of the lymphatic system - which basically controls or is related to your immune system. Blood cancers all relate to cancer affecting your blood cells & systems in your body that produce, regulate & make use of your blood & blood cells. If you watch the video... I did have swollen lymp nodes under my arms, but the major area for me was the cancer mainly being in my mediastinal area of my chest: At the time of my diagnosis I had a HUGE mass almost sitting on my heart, located between my heart & left lung, along with cancer spread all over my entire chest area - all ABOVE my diaphragm. The major symptoms that I had for months & months (& just ignored them & didnt go to the doctor until I was SO sick that I finally went to the ER) were: a SEVERE, hacking cough that was non-stop, day & night (like a heavy smoker or someone with emphysema - except I never smoked), severe fatigue & lethargy, constant fevers, sore throat, shortness of breath, wheezing, dizziness (especially when walking up a flight of stairs or an incline) weird severe itching all over my chest & stabbing pains under my left breast. I got noticeably sick starting in early September 2012 & just ignored all these symptoms & kept running myself ragged & was sick thru all the holidays (still refused to see a doctor) & then still sick all the way until FEB 2013 - when my Mom finally FORCED me to go to the ER because I was hacking so badly & walking around with a constant fever, dizziness & shortness of breath. I thought I had bronchitis or maybe walking pneumonia (I used to get bronchitis very often for years) & hoped it would magically or eventually go away on its own (stupid me). When they took an X-ray of my chest in the ER my left lung was completely crushed & collapsed because I had so much fluid in my lung area. It turns out that when I was having those severe stabbing pains during all those months of being sick - that was actually my left lung collapsing! And that poisonous fluid in my lung area was caused by the cancer - those special/evil/sneaky cells this doctor talks all about in the video. I was immediately admitted to the hospital for a week. They had to drain the massive fluid in my lungs - which is a fairly painful procedure of sticking a huge tube through your back which sucks the fluid out. I had numerous tests & other procedures, including both a CT & PET scan, a VERY painful chest biopsy to get tissue samples of that huge tumor near my heart & an extremely painful bone marrow biopsy (painful because Harborview doesnt sedate you like Seattle Cancer Care does) to see if the cancer had spread to my bone marrow too. I was told that I had been walking around with a collapsed lung for probably a few months. The Docs also said that from all the poisonous fluid that had built up in my lung area - I probably had had cancer in my body for a year or two before my diagnosis in Feb 2013. The video explains that Hodgkins Lymphoma is USUALLY one of THE most treatable & curable cancers out there. But sadly, not for everyone. Still only about 70% of patients are cured or go into remission from chemo and/or radiation treatments. Even if/when Hodgkins comes back for some patients, its generally a slow growing cancer that comes back a year, two years, many times 5 to 10 years later - if it returns at all. The lucky ones remain in remission & ofiicially cured thank God! I have a very rare, super fast growing & aggressive form of Hodgkins & is why a PET scan said it was gone from my body in March of this year, I then had an (auto) stem cell transplant in April, using my OWN stem cells which were cleaned by super intense chemo & radiation, harvested in my body, frozen & then put back into my body to try to renew my immune system & beat the Hodgkins permanetly. Yet I suddenly have another tumor near my heart - discovered via a recent PET scan just a couple of months ago. I share all of these details, my journey & videos like this to maybe help those in the fight or to help others understand those in the fight, but also to remind people to never ignore your body if something doesnt feel right. I used to be known & famous for NEVER going to the doctor - not even for check ups - & now Im paying a huge price for that... Early detection can save lives ❤
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 18:19:29 +0000
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