What symptoms did you notice before being diagnosed with cancer?
07.06.2025 05:34
In the next six months, I had a total of eight rounds of chemo. Then a few months later, they did another CT scan and saw that the tumour was growing back. The study I’d been part of was to see whether patients did better with the R-CHOP chemo or an autologous blood stem cell transplant. I was originally randomized to the R-CHOP group, but since the tumour was growing again, I was “removed” from the study and put through the autologous blood stem cell transplant procedure.
In 2004, I’d had a smoker’s cough for two or three years, even though I’d never smoked. When my daughter was about three months old, I noticed one night that I’d been bitten on my ankle by some kind of bug. At the time, I assumed spider, but I’ve repeatedly heard that there are no medically significant spiders in Canada (at least in this part of Canada), and I’ve seen some different pictures of bug bites, so now I’m thinking it might have been a centipede. Anyway, over the next few weeks, I noticed my neck was swelling up. My sagittal notch (the notch between the collarbones in below the throat) had disappeared. I went to my GP because I was starting to feel like my throat was closing up, and he referred me to an endocrinologist. She found a small lump on my thyroid and did a biopsy, but it wasn’t cancerous. My GP just left it at that and didn’t pursue it any further.
If you recognize that you have sinned against God and want to turn your life around, you can pray this prayer: Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner and don’t deserve eternal life, but I believe You died for me and rose from the grave to pay the price for my sin. Please forgive me of my sins and save me. I turn away from my sins and now place my trust in You for eternal life. Thank you for the free gift of eternal life You have given me. Amen.
What was Easter day like for you as a child?
Because I was in the hospital so much, my daughter was basically sent to stay with my mom a lot of the time. She had a dayhome, so there were other kids for her to play with. It was a long, gruelling ordeal, but 20 years later, I’m cancer free, out of an unhealthy marriage, and making progress toward fulfilling my dreams.
They had trouble reaching my husband because he slept like the dead, but after he was finally up they notified him and he came to the hospital. I was admitted, and over the next ten days, they biopsied the tumour and identified it as a stage IV B-cell lymphoma, got me signed up for a study (with my informed consent, of course), and put me through my first round of chemo.
Within a week, the closing throat had become more uncomfortable to the point that I couldn’t get to sleep because it was hard to breathe, so I finally had a friend take me to the ER. My then-husband was not much help and was supposed to work the next morning, so I had my baby with me. We sat in the waiting room a long time before they got me into a bed, and then my friend left. By that point, it was past 11pm. Over the next few hours, I was sent for an x-ray, which showed a shadow in my chest that shouldn’t be there, so the ER doctor told me it was probably cancer. I was allowed to breast-feed my baby one last time. (During all of this, when she wasn’t sleeping, the nurses would carry her around. The faster they walked, the more she loved it.) Then I had to drink that icky iodine solution to prepare for a CT scan. The doctor showed me the images on the computer and explained that the swelling in my neck was because the tumour, which was 12cm in diameter, was constricting the superior vena cava, which brings blood from the head and arms back to the heart. It was basically cutting off the circulation. The doctor said it was probably lymphoma.
“Autologous” means they were going to be using my own blood stem cells since the cancer had not metastasized. The procedure involved being admitted to the hospital for three weeks during which I would receive chemo every day for a week, they’d monitor various aspects of my condition and give me transfusions if needed while the chemo did its thing, then give me some shots of a drug to boost my bone marrow to produce more blood stem cells for a few days, hook me up to a machine that would run my blood through it and filter out the stem cells, and then I could go home for three weeks. Then I was admitted for another three weeks for the next part. The first week again involved chemo every day, then they monitored me and gave me transfusions when needed, and when the chemo was done its work, they gave me back my blood stem cells. Then they gave me the shots again to boost my bone marrow, and when my levels were starting to look good, they sent me home.
Having gotten the diagnosis, and sitting in the ER bed with my baby, I initially started to tear up, but then I thought, “Why should I cry? Because society says that’s what I’m supposed to do in this situation?” I mentally buckled down for the fight of my life. I had my Bible with me, and read a verse that gave me something solid to base my faith on: But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” —John 11:4.
Thank-you to the person who asked this question! You’ve given me an opportunity to share my story!
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EDIT: To clarify, God didn’t give me cancer. When He finished creating the universe and everything in it, including humans, He declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no death or disease. Then the devil tempted Eve by asking, “Did God actually say…?” A seed of doubt was planted with the implication that God was holding out. She ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam, and he ate it, too. That single act of disobedience brought sin into the human bloodline and a curse on creation that included death, disease, and suffering (Romans 8:20–22). It also separated them and us from God because He is holy, and anything unholy (sin) would be destroyed in His presence. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The only way we can be made right with God is if a totally sinless Person dies in our place. We cannot earn our own salvation. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That is why Jesus came and was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross in our place, and was raised to life again on the third day. John 3:16–17 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” We are saved by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8–9).
The next step is to find a good church. If you’re not sure what to look for, you can check out a few on YouTube. A couple of channels that I recommend are Eastside City Church and Elevation Church.