Cancer Story

In December of 1999 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease at the age of 19. I did not feel sick and had only a persistent cough for a few months. I visited two doctor’s offices three times before this and was diagnosed with bronchitis and sent home with antibiotics. Finally I had an earache and decided to visit a different doctor.

I made an appointment with my parent’s physician for two days after Christmas. By that time my earache had gone away but I kept the appointment because of the cough. Dr. Bean heard wheezing in my right lung and ordered a chest x-ray. Within an hour my family and I were in his office discussing the large mass and enlarged nodes found in my chest. I immediately was sent for a cat scan and a biopsy over the next two days. The tests confirmed that there was a 9 x 4 inch mass in my chest consistent with Hodgkin’s Disease.

I was referred to an oncologist at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. I would begin Stanford V chemotherapy within a week. This regime consisted of twelve consecutive weeks of chemotherapy followed by four weeks of daily radiation.

The first six weeks of chemo went fairly well. Only a few set backs due to low blood counts. I was put on growth factors for both my white and red blood cells. The last six weeks I had severe body and joint pain, terrible mouth sores and a blood transfusion. I was hospitalized twice for high fevers and low blood counts.

Aside from the cooked skin and peeling sunburn, radiation was a breeze. I did experience a sore throat in my third week. The bad thing about radiation was the lines they had to draw on my chest and neck. I was not allowed to wash these areas of my body. I looked like a two year old who had gone crazy with a magic marker.

By the end of May 2000, I had successfully completed chemotherapy and radiation. Follow up scans have detected a small mass of about 2.0 cm x 2.0 cm in my chest. This has been determined scar tissue because it keeps decreasing in size.