Genevieve Haupt,
My life before diagnosis
I was in the second year of my PhD, which I was doing part-time and working full-time as a Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council. I found myself in a very unhappy long-term relationship (5 years at the time), but as trying to make it work. I felt very alone in the relationship and at one point, I asked myself “if I should ever get diagnosed with cancer, would he care?” I would get my answer sooner than I expected. To this day, it still baffles me that this very specific thought crossed my mind. Looking back it might have been some kind of foresight or God preparing me for what was to come.
My diagnosis
I had suffered from an
During 2013, I visited my GP several times with an
But at one point, I think roundabout June 2013, I noticed a mass at the base of my neck, which I assumed was a tension knot. In July 2013 I attended one of my Doctoral Weeks at Rhodes University and while in attending a seminar I began to feel very tired and a bit shaky. One of my colleagues noticed. I also mentioned the knot to her and she responded by saying the location of the knot seemed odd for a tension knot. I decided to see a GP in Grahamstown and he said that it could be a swollen lymph node as a result of a throat infection. He gave me some
By the time I returned to Cape Town (a week later) the lump had still not subsided. I then went back to my GP, who sent me for blood tests and an x-ray and gave me stronger antibiotics. Both the blood tests and x-rays came back clear…so at this point I felt completely neurotic. I then began to ignore it but I kept feeling ill, i.e., I suffered from headaches, fatigue and the sore throat persisted, which resulted in me taking a lot of sick days. At the end of August 2013, my then
It was a female GP which was different, but she was so attentive and warm. She conducted a short exam and indicated that she wasn’t happy with the way it felt so recommended I have a sonar. While having the sonar, the examiner said I should lay still while she calls someone else, this is when I first realised that something must be wrong.
Two days later I went back to the GP, who then referred me for a biopsy. I met with the surgeon a few days later and had an incisional biopsy the following week, Wednesday, 11th September 2013. When the surgeon saw me to sign my release forms on the evening of the biopsy, I asked him what he thought it was and he said its either Lymphoma or Tuberculosis because both diseases have a similar cell make-up but he will call me by Friday to confirm the diagnosis.
My Friday the 13th
So on Friday the 13th of September at
One big issue with having two days before meeting with the surgeon was that I am a researcher, so I spent most of the weekend researching all I could about Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Which was a big waste of time, because when I met with the surgeon the Monday, he made a correction and confirmed that it wasn’t Non-Hodgkin’s, but rather Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. More specifically it was Nodular Sclerosis Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which more commonly affects women (✔), and younger adults, with the mean age of 28 (✔, another criteria I match, Yay for me) but most importantly was that most patients are cured with current treatment and you are classified as cured after being in remission for 2 years….almost there !
He then set-up an appointment with one of only two Haematologists (an Oncologist who specialises in Blood Cancers) in Cape Town. Dr Schmidt’s office was situated in Panorama so it would be best if he was my Oncologist, as I moved back to my parent’s
My first Oncology visit
It was a
Staging took some time, so before my next appointment with my Oncologist, I asked my
Treatment Plan
Once staging was completed I met with my Oncologist again. The outcome was that I had stage 2B (favourable). This meant that the disease was only found in the upper part of my body, above the diaphragm. I would do 2 rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a PET scan. The outcome of the scan would determine the next steps, either more chemotherapy and/or radiation.
Chemotherapy consisted of 2 cycles i.e. one cycle is equal to two sittings, one every two weeks, so I would have a total of 4 sittings over 2 cycles. The chemotherapy which I received was called ABVD or (A)
When I met with my Oncologist for my third or second last chemo sitting, he indicated that I would only be able to have my PET scan in the first week of January 2014, due to unavailable equipment, so instead of stopping chemotherapy after two cycles, he suggests that I have another 2 cycles of chemotherapy!!! So I was signed up for another two cycles (4
On the 8th January 2014, I had my first PET scan which came back ALL CLEAR!!! But my Oncologist wanted to make sure the disease never returned so I needed to complete my chemotherapy and followed by radiation. Because I was in the early stages and showed a favourable PET scan, I would only be required to have the lowest Gray of radiation, over a 10 day period.
Once I completed my chemotherapy I had a
Radiation was administered every day for 10 days with the weekends serving as a break. Each sitting of radiation lasted between 10-15 minutes. When I began radiation and had to lay still for 20 minutes (the first and last sitting of radiation
Side effects
My research around the disease and treatment meant that I had some of
The one which bothered me the most was fatigue. I was extremely tired all of the time. Luckily my employer was very
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