My ongoing Story with Cancer

Background/How everything started

Well like the chapter title says, I'm going to tell you how this all started and tell you about myself. It's been awhile since I wrote anything so please excuse any mistakes I make. My Name is Christine Johnson and I am 18 years old. I love to paint, write, draw, etc. This cancer thing all started when I went to the ER because of really bad sinuses in mid-august. My mom and I was waiting and I tilted my head back exposing my neck. She noticed there was a huge lump on my left side of my neck. That scared the crap out of me because my friend warned me if there is a lump in your neck something may be wrong with your thyroid. The ER doctor miss the place where it was at so he dismissed it and gave me some allergy medicine. I was also starting college within a few days so I pushed it aside for a while, but told mom we can't forget about it. The first day of college was great. I made a bunch of new friends, the professors were nice, and they all dismissed class twenty minutes early which was cool because you got time to sit around. I should mention I only had to go twice a week and I commuted since it was only half an hour away from home. Thursday I got really sick and told myself to hold off until after first class so I would have an hour to stay at the clinic. Luckily she dismissed class twenty minutes early. So I walked all the way to the clinic. If you guys know where Shawnee is then you should have a clear perspective on how far it was. Well it isn't that far, but it's far when you are sick. The heat wasn't helping either. So I went to the clinic and for a while it stopped. I told the nurse what was happening and she perscribed me some medicine. She also told me if it happened again to come back. So I left and tried to chill around for a bit since I still had some time on my hands. It started hurting again and I had to walk up some stairs. They had elevators, but I'm terrified of them. I made it into the classroom and I must have looked awful. I was having a panic attack, the room was blurry, I felt like I was going to pass out. I told the teacher that I needed to go to the clinic again, she let me go and wished me luck. I went back to the nurse and she sent me home with a note. (Don't worry I didn't drive my brother's Fiance' picked me up.) I started feeling better that day. Then came Tuesday and I just threw up that morning. I couldn't tell what was happening. I wasn't sick during the weekend. I thought this was caused by one of two reasons. The first I thought it was this antibiotic I was taking since I got sick each time I took it. The only other reason I could think of was panic attacks. I used to have bad panic attacks during the second half of my senior year. Not going to tell you that whole senerio, so I'll sum it down. Teachers, stress, and Agoraphobia (fear of crowds). I thought I was afraid that the same thing was going to happen. So I couldn't go the next few days. Well I tried I never got past the second class. So I just decided to drop out until I got this settled. I wrote a letter blaming it on panic attacks because I didn't know what else it was. After I dropped out I still kept getting sick every other day. Then it went to every single morning. I kept getting sick every morning then it would stop at noon. I went to my normal doctor and my mom told him about my neck, but he said it was nothing just from my sinuses. He didn't know what was going on. Then luckily he left because he didn't like his pay cut (he barely even looked at me during the last checkup). I got this new doctor, who new exactly what the problem was. By this time it was mid-september. So that means I've been sick for a month. He told me he thinks it's lymphoma (which I didn't know anything about at the time). He didn't want to guess and run with this so he sent me to a neck/ throat doctor who is apperently a plastic surgeon too. He deals with this stuff alot and recognizes lymphoma alot. He took a look at me and said, "I'm 100% this is lymphoma" Then he explained that it is a form of cancer. He already scheduled me a biopsy that friday, which was October 1st. He said it should be very easy to cure so I would be fine. We came home and we told everyone. Everyone was crying, all except me even though I should be crying the most. It didn't shake me one bit. You might be thinking, "Well you can't fully grasp how bad cancer is because you're so young. You don't understand how harsh this is on other people." Actually I do know quite a bit about it. I have had family members have it. My grandma was ate up with cancer, and I stayed by her side the entire way until she passed. When I was little, she had to take alot of cancer pills and she would find candy shapped like the pills so I could take my "cancer pills" too. My mom had the start of cancer, but luckily they got that out in time. I have a friend who is dealing with Cystic Fibrosis and she officially died once, but came back. I have no excuse to cry. I understood that I would be fine. Why cry over something that can be fixed? Yeah I'll lose my hair, but it will come back. Yeah I'll get weaker, but my spirit is stronger. I have many goals I want to finish. So I had the biopsy and they confirmed it was cancer. I learned more about the cancer. I have the hodgkins kind, which is most common for people my age. I also learned it's in both sides of my neck, in my chest, and my lower abdomon. Which is the reason I was throwing up. I had another biopsy just a couple weeks ago to see if it was in my bone marrow, which it wasn't. If you want to know what stage it is, it is stage 3. They said they can still cure it. It's 90% curable and then said if I was in that 10% they would cure it a different way. I had one more surgery on the 17th to have a port put in so they can put the chemo through. So I did pretty good for a person who hasn't had any surgery in all her life then have three done within a month. Though I'm sure other people have it worse. I had my first chemo treatment the 20th and lasted till yesterday. The last chemo for the day I had to carry a bag home that slowly put the chemo through me. Luckily I only have to do it twice a month. I still have to get blood drawn monday, but through my arm. If you don't already know, I hate needles. That is the worst part for me, but I pull through. I have alot of art projects to keep me busy and keep my mind off things. My sister works at Rally's and her boss is gonna let me do a big mural on the side of the resteraunt so I'm excited about that. Well that's all I have to tell for now. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.