A catch up

Before we go into too much detail it is probably important to start at the beginning and let you know what has been happening.

At Christmas I discovered a small lump in my neck, having several muscular problems I ignored it. In January, once back at uni, I suffered a sever panic attack and was taken to hospital, where they looked at the lump and decided that it was just an infected lymphnode from my chest infection before Christmas. I was given a course of antibiotics, after that week the lump seemed to be no smaller, so I visited my local GP who suggested that I wait another week to give the anti-biotics ample time to work through my system. Again a week went by and still no change, in fact by this time the lump was in fact getting bigger.

By this time we had entered February and I had been refereed by the GP to the Head and Neck Unit at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. The doctor there examined me and said that the lump was definitely not a result from a chest infection and upon further examination he found another lump under my right arm. At the time he took a small needle biopsy to determine what the lump actually was.

On February 29th 2008 my doctor partially confirmed that I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This is a cancer that attacks the immune system, it forms lumps in the body and comes in four stages, all of which are highly treatable and the survival rate is at least 98%. Obviously the doctor wanted to confirm his suspicions, so he decided that a week later I would have to have another biopsy, but this time I would have to be admitted because they would need to take a larger piece.

On March 6th 2008 I had the operation on my neck to remove part of the lump, i felt quite sick that night so they kept me in over night and released the following morning. However, I was feeling less then brilliant when I woke up on the Saturday morning and by the Saturday night I was back in hospital with an infection.
The infection had spread quite badly and had swelled in my neck to the size of a fist. I was taken back into theatre on the Tuesday to have the wound drained - 30mls to be precise - this relieved a lot of the pain from my neck and I was finally discharged from hospital on Friday lunch time. Having had a bone marrow biopsy also that day I did have a bruised lower back as well. But was happy to be returning home.

All the test were confirmed that I do have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I have a lump under my right arm, a small lump behind my stomach, one behind my the top half of my right lung and what remains of the one in my neck. It has not spread to my bone marrow.

That is basically it and today I had my first set of chemo. I feel fine at the moment, but that's probably because of the steroids. Tomorrow I might not feel so good. I have been told that I have to take each day as it comes and not to expect to much at first. The days after chemo are not all sugar and rainbows. I also found out that a lot of the side symptoms that come with this cancer should start to disappear within the week and that if my hair is to fall out then it will do so by the end of the month. So if anyone has any cool ideas for hats or bandannas then let me know. Also, I can have one special wig made up for the occasions when I feel like I would like to have hair, so if anyone has any style ideas let me know, at the moment I'm going with the "Jackie Kennedy."

This blog has is for anyone who wishes to know how the treatment is going and how I'm feeling. I know it is a little impersonal, but there are so many of you kind and caring people that it can be exhausting letting everyone know everything all the time. At least this way you can all get a detailed first hand account of whats happening and if you want to leave messages or ask any questions then you can.

In my next blog I will list some helpful websites for those of you who are still not quite sure about my type of cancer and chem.

Much Love
Charlie xxxx