It’s been an fascinating 12 months. Not a lot health-wise, fortunately, however well being issues are by no means removed from my ideas. This 12 months marks 5 years since I completed remedy for follicular lymphoma, a type of blood most cancers that’s thought-about very treatable however persistent and incurable.
In June 2020, I began experiencing what I now know have been “B” signs of follicular lymphoma: I had important afternoon fatigue that may trigger me to go to sleep mid-afternoon. I might get up soaked in sweat. I attributed each to the climate; it was a scorching summer time, and air con solely does a lot. I additionally misplaced a major quantity of weight (30 kilos in two months), which I attributed to a again damage the month earlier than that ended up with me on muscle relaxants. I wasn’t significantly hungry, as a result of even when the muscle relaxants took care of a lot of the ache, it harm to maneuver, and I wasn’t consuming as a lot as typical.
As a part of recovering from the again damage, I scheduled a therapeutic massage. The therapeutic massage therapist discovered an enlarged lymph node in my armpit and urged I get a mammogram. The gynecologist I went to agreed and despatched me for a mammogram. That go to additionally uncovered a beforehand unknown symptom: sinus tachycardia, a excessive coronary heart price; my resting coronary heart price approached 130 beats per minute. Prognosis ended up coming from each instructions. On Wednesday, I went for the mammogram, which led to an ultrasound after which a biopsy, whereas on Thursday, I went for a CT scan to search for the reason for the sinus tachycardia, which my physician suspected was a blood clot in a lung. However it wasn’t; the CT scan got here again “possible lymphoma, attainable leukemia.” And so it started.
Wanting again, 5 years and 6 months after analysis, 5 years after finishing remedy and being declared NED (no proof of illness, remission), my life is, in some methods, completely completely different than it was then. I retired from instructing barely ahead of I had meant; being immune compromised in a center college within the midst of a pandemic appeared like a foul possibility once I had the selection to retire. Sammy, the canine who was my companion by COVID and most cancers, died of honorable outdated age in 2022. A number of months in the past, I lastly adopted a brand new canine. I did one thing I’d been dreaming of for years and visited India. I renovated my home.
Even so, some issues stay the identical. I nonetheless love books, particularly fantasy novels. I nonetheless see my oncologist each six months and get a CT scan yearly, on the lookout for recurrence. I’ve no noticeable indicators that the lymphoma has returned, however then once more, my oncologist thinks it was spreading for 5 to 10 years earlier than analysis, and I solely had signs for 2 or three months earlier than analysis and remedy. My annual CT scan is developing in late January, and already I’m stressing about it. I’ve been sick with one thing I can’t establish; my resting coronary heart price has risen some (not practically as a lot as 5 years in the past), I’ve had a light fever, I’ve been fatigued. It’s sufficient to lift my stress degree considerably, despite the fact that it’s probably some respiratory an infection. Scanxiety — anxiousness about an upcoming scan, blood check, or medical appointment — is actual and by no means actually goes away.
Then, too, it’s New Yr’s Eve, a date that invitations introspection. Add a major anniversary to that, and it’s been an fascinating night. I simply hope that the fireworks I anticipate my neighbors to set off within the park throughout the road don’t upset my new canine an excessive amount of, however at the least soothing her in the event that they do will take my thoughts off every little thing else.
This piece displays the writer’s private expertise and perspective. For medical recommendation, please seek the advice of your well being care supplier.
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