A Definate Diagnosis

I had my own room when back in Burton and decorated it with all my uni pictures and Liverpool stuff. I had to have injections every day to prevent clotting and they bloody hurt!! I HATED them!!

Anyway, after many delays in getting a result we finally got a full diagnosis about 2 weeks after I had first been admitted. I had Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Diffuse Large B cell. It was a common type of NHL, was aggressive, which was good as it generally responded better to treatment. NHL is a cancer of the blood; The lymphatic system is a crucial part of the body’s immune system and helps to defend against infection and diseases. In Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the lymphocytes (white blood cells) start to grow abnormally and multiply in ways they shouldn’t. This then forms swellings throughout the body, most commonly in the neck and armpit (lymph nodes) though my tumour is in my chest.

I would be started on RCHOP chemotherapy every 3 weeks. This was 3 chemotherapy drugs: cyclophosphamide doxorubicin and vincristine along with Prednisolone which is a steroid and the monoclonal antibody treatment called rituximab.

I had my first cycle in the hospital overnight. I met Wendy the chemotherapy nurse and she was lovely. Having the chemo itself just involved Wendy inserting a cannula which I hated and was totally scared of but she put me at ease and I was fine in the end, and the chemo was just injected through this. The rituximab, which I had had a few days before, just went through a drip like a bag of fluids but had to be given slowly the first time to check I had no reaction to it or anything. Side effects could include sickness and although I was given anti sickness drugs I was very sick that first night after chemo. I was also high from the anti sickness drugs and rang my dad at 2am! But then I just fell asleep! I also had a swelled up face after that first chemo but they never knew what caused it! Random allergic reaction to something! Anyway it went down and its never happened since!

So now we had a definite diagnosis we could start getting on with it. At this point I never thought about the treatment not working, assumed I would carry on with uni, was told my breathing would ease pretty quickly and everything was set to be ok by Christmas!