Hodgkins Lymphoma Survivor

I had no symptoms that I knew of when I found out I had Hodgkins. It was a little over a month before my May wedding, 2010. I had been sick with some kind of a cold and was heading into my second week of not feeling very well. I had my boyfriend take me to the ER when I couldnt get in to see my general doctor. The doctor at the ER came in and looked me over, asked a few questions and then informed me that I had a cold and sinus infection. He said they would give me a z pack and I'd been on my way. As my boyfriend and I were getting ready to leave the ER, a nurse came back in and said the doctor wanted to go ahead and get a chest xray just to be sure my lungs were clear. I had the xray and was once again getting ready to head home when a doctor came in and informed me that they had seen something on my xray that they wanted to look at a little closer. I was not worried at all. They did a MRI and came back about an hour later to inform me that they had found a large tumor on my right lung and I would have to stay at the hospital that weekend. I was in shock. Im 36 years old. It never occured to me that I could get cancer. I always thought they gave you chest xrays at the ER to have something extra to charge you for.

After alot of tests, biopsies and bone marrow tests, it was determined that I had stage two Hodgkins Lym. I have a large tumor on my right lung and dozens of large tumors between my lungs and in my chest cavity. I have a WONDERFUL oncology doctor that assured me that this was a very treatable cancer and he intended to be as aggressive as he could be without killing me. I had a port put in and was scheduled for 12 chemo treatments everyother week. I took my first chemo treatment two days after I got married to my wonderful husband, Tim, who has been by my side through all of this. I completed my fourth chemo treatment three weeks ago. I had another PET scan a week later and found out that my tumors have shrunk from 11 cnt to 2 cnt. I was told that I would not have to take the rest of my 8 chemos and would be going straight to radiation. I start my 30 radiation treatments this week. I have been given a good survival rate and am praying to continue to have improving health. I have loved coming to this site and reading everybodys survival stories. They give me GREAT hope for my future.