Hello, my name is Emily I am 23 years old and I have just been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
I start chemo next Monday and am pretty nervous about what is around the corner. I have gone from starting a new life in London, a new teaching job and living the life of a young person to having to move back to the south west living back with my parents. Is there any advice that people could offer a young person who has had her life tipped upside down or is there any young people on the forum that I could speak to please.
Thanks
Emily
Hi Emily,
I am so sorry you have found yourself in this chat room. A warm welcome , there are a lot of good people who may be able to assist you
The nurses no is 0808 800 4040 maybe you could give them a call. I have no experience in this field. But here you will be with virtual friends who you can rant and rave to, that in itself is a good thing
Kathy sending you a virtual hug
Hello Emily I just wanted to add my welcome to the forum to you. So sorry you find yourself here, but it is a great place for information and support. Although I have no knowledge of your particular condition, I'm sure it wont be too long before someone comes along who can help answer your questions. Please come and chat on here anytime you feel the need, it really does help to unload.
Good luck with your treatment, & please keep us posted on your progress.
sorry for my later slow reply. Firstly I'm sorry for your diagnoses it's *** but hopefully you will get some answer soon. I finished 6 cycles of chemo on April 28th and then had my PET SCAN in June. I got told I am currently in partial remission and not full remission because there are some question all colours on my scan which the hope is scar tissue!! In tems of recovery the two weeks after chemo were the worst for me as I knew I wouldn't need anymore but yet the side effects seemed worse! I out my quick recovery down to drinking plenty of watere and exercising. The side effects of chemo took a long while to stop Newley two months to be precise but apart from that tiredness I am doing ok.
In terms of advice I'm not going to sugar cost things for you and say chemo is all rainbows and fairy dust because boy it isn't. Whatever you do don't google anything... I did this and get myself into a complete none utter mess. First and second chemo are the worse.. Our body becomes almost acustomised to it and deals better with the side effects. If your like me and an inquisitive person I asked question after question.. Try and do this to get a better understanding of what is going on. I found myself at such a low point in the middle that I saw a counsellor every week to try and help me accept the cancer and understand there is as life beyond this. I also had weekly massage to help with the side effects and this work brilliantly for me.
i hope this helps but if you have any more questions or just want to chat please please please just email me again. I am happy to chat and hopefully make you feel a bit more at ease with this.
Thank you for your reply, I'm glad you're doing well. I have everything crossed for you with regard to the scar tissue.
I am inquisitive too and I'd rather know exactly what is/will happen so that I can start dealing with it sooner I guess.
I am feeling quite impatient to find out staging etc. I'm terrified that it will have spread all over the place. What was your staging if I'm not being too nosey?
