Hodgkin’s Disease….a Survivors Tale

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to give its full title is a form of cancer, occurring in the lymph glands of the shoulder or groin.

In my case it was found in my shoulder and chest, initially revealed in a chest X-ray which my GP sent me for after I’d gone to see him with a tickly cough. This cough had been around for nearly a year but as a butch bloke I’d ignored it and carried on regardless. It became harder to ignore as I became permanently tired and lethargic, unable to get over this no matter how long I stayed in bed. Matters came to a head one weekend whilst out for dinner with my parents, who looked at me like I had two heads when I explained how I’d been feeling and suggested I get myself down the doctors a bit sharpish.

I took their advice, not thinking it could be anything more serious than overwork and stress, so my GP signed me off for a fortnight which was what I wanted, and sent me for the chest X -ray as a precaution. The first clue something might be amiss came when the lady doing the X-ray asked if I knew why I’d been sent and then took another picture when I said I didn’t.  A summons to a local clinic followed, where I was shown the X-rays and told that the tumour clearly visible on them was a cancer of some description.

Referral to the local hospital was next, where I met the consultant who was to be a feature of my life for the next five years. Repeated blood tests and examinations followed, then on a routine clinic visit my consultant found that the growth had gotten far enough up my neck to be easily reached, and immediately ordered a biopsy for the following morning, which came as a bit of a shock since it meant I wasn’t going home!

The biopsy itself meant a small incision in my neck so a piece of the tumour could be removed and analysed in a laboratory. That analysis confirmed that it was Hodgkins Disease, and enabled decisions to be made about the course of treatment required. Chemotherapy was the method selected, and so I settled down to three months on some strong drugs.

Chemotherapy involves quantities of quite powerful drugs being administered intravenously through a drip. In my case this meant sitting in a room in the hospital for between two and three hours whilst the chemical cocktail was fed into my system. This happened once a fortnight, with clinic visits on the weeks in between. Chemo has some fairly strong side effects, leaving you feeling nauseous and washed out for two or three days after each dose, and as the course went on actually making me sick whilst I was receiving the treatment. I was on a particularly nasty type of chemo apparently due to the size of the tumour, so not everyone is going to be as unwell as I was. It also causes hair loss, mine fell out all at once whilst I was taking a shower on holiday between sessions!

At the end of my twelve week course a scan was taken which showed that the tumour was responding to treatment, but wasn’t yet eliminated, so my consultant cheerfully set me on another course of chemo. I wasn’t happy but didn’t have much choice since I wanted to get better. Finally having completed the second course the tumour appeared to be finished. The final stage of my treatment was to be a short course of radiotherapy, which according to my ever cheerful consultant was just as a precaution to ensure all cancerous cells were despatched.

Receiving radiotherapy involves nothing more than lying still whilst the radio beams are pointed at the affected areas. In order to aim them properly it was necessary for me to lie still for a long while so that the doctors could take some very detailed measurements in order to hit only what they wanted to hit and avoid damaging any non affected areas. This was the most uncomfortable part of the process. The actual radiotherapy treatment I had as a series of appointments which I arranged early finishes from work for. The only side effects I noticed during this phase were a feeling of tiredness after treatment, but a good night’s sleep sorted that out.

Once all treatment was over I then had regular clinic appointments to check on my progress, which as time went on got further and further apart. Lately I’ve only had to show my face every six months, just so the doctors can keep an eye on me.

.

Professional Drivers Association

Raising Standards

Lymphoma Information Network

Hodgkin's Lymphoma or Hodgkin's Disease is a malignant (cancerous) growth of cells in the lymph system. Hodgkin's Disease is the better known form of lymphoma (the other lymphomas are grouped into what is called the Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas).

A medical diagnosis or symptoms of Hodgkin's Lymphoma can be scary.  To help you you can follow through pages on Hodgkin's on this site.......more