Louise - Hodgkin Lymphoma
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Created on Sunday, 05 August 2007 17:51
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Diagnosis
I was 18 when I was diagnosed. It was a shock to say the least. I knew that I was sick, but just thought that I had stomach ulsers or something simple like that.
I had just began college. It was an exciting time of my life, making new friends, living away from home. In the college one day I decided to donate blood. It was something I had always wanted to do. It turned out that my iron levels were quite low so I was turned away and told to vsit my GP.
I had been feeling quite tired but thought this was due to my never ending social life in college. My GP decided to put me on a course of iron injections and tablets. I started these but they seemed to make me sick and I was getting even more tierd. When the doctor checked my blood again my iron levels had dropped even more.
At this stage I was begining to get a pain in my lower abdomen. It was really bad and I couldnt walk properly. I had also lost a lot of weight and was experiencing night sweats. I slept most of the day and was missing loads of college. My doctor sent me to a specialist.
I got my Christmas holidays from college and went into my local hospital for tests. I had a scope which showed up nothing. I then had an ultrasound and a CT scan. The doctor thought it must have been hodgkin's disease so that night I went to St. James hospital for a biopsy.
I got out of hospital on Christmas Eve and within a few days I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease stage iiib
