Nobody ever expects to be diagnosed with cancer at 28, but that’s exactly what happened to me. It came completely out of the blue. I had zero symptoms. My cancer was found through a chest X-ray after I got my port placed (yes, I had my port before cancer!). Prior to cancer, I had been receiving IV therapies for other conditions I had, and I needed a port for that. After a couple of weeks, an excisional biopsy, a PET scan, and multiple blood tests, I found myself in my oncologist’s office receiving my full diagnosis ― Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), mixed cellularity subtype, stage 2AX. I would start chemotherapy 10 days later.
Chemotherapy was something I was absolutely terrified about. When I thought of cancer before my diagnosis, I thought about chemo and what I saw on TV and in movies. I found that it isn’t really like that. Chemo to me was pretty uneventful during the actual infusion. I would watch TV, talk to my nurses, and eat some food ― pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I’d start to feel not so great (that’s putting it lightly) afterward, but it turned out that it was a lot more doable than I thought it would be.
I recently completed my treatment, and it still doesn’t feel real. I can’t believe that I went through cancer and chemotherapy at age 28. I can’t believe that through all of that, I finished my schooling for medical coding. I can’t believe that I got through the scariest, hardest, most trying time in my life. But I did. And I didn’t do it alone. I had my family and friends always by my side. I had The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) here for any information I needed, and I always knew that their information was reliable. I also had a social worker at my cancer center who helped me get through all of this. I highly recommend anyone going through this kind of journey to reach out and ask if your cancer center offers social work because it has been a game changer for me!
At the very beginning of my journey, I remember telling my mom, “I don’t know if I can do this.” Now, here I am. I did it. And so can you.
Jenna
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL)
