For someone who is so passionate about Michigan State, you'd think U of M would be the last choice for a place for treatment. For me, it was a no brainer. I love Michigan and I love that they are saving my life.
We decided to use U of M simply because they are the best. The constant jokes from the nurses and doctors about football this year are totally worth it. I know that there is no place I'd rather be.
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I'll never forget it. October 6th, 2016.
My mom had just visited me the night before, and all of the sudden in the morning she was asking to come up again. She had spent a lot of money on TEDx tickets in Detroit, so I was wondering why her and my dad wanted to skip it to come see me all the way in East Lansing. But I didn't oppose the idea. I would get to see my dog and also get a free lunch out of it. They got to my house around 11 a.m., and I didn't have class until 1:00 p.m. My dad walked in with one of my dogs, Cali. My mom was in the car on the phone, and I was wondering what was taking her so long. It's not like her to take a phone call like that. I waited outside, and finally she walked up. All of the sudden, the words just came out of her mouth: "That was the doctor. They got the results and they found a strand of lymphoma." My heart dropped. I stared straight ahead, unsure what to even think about. Thoughts immediately started rushing in. Would I lose my hair? Am I going to have chemo? How am I going to continue being a full time student? Will I graduate on time? What is happening? I started breathing heavy. I was on the verge of tears. All I could think about is that there had to be a way that the results were wrong. I was in denial. After the loud rush of unknowns filled my head, there was an infinite period of complete silence and nothing in my mind. I stared ahead. My parents tried talking to me, I didn't answer. I felt so much that I couldn't feel anything. For those of you that don't know, here's a quick run down of everything that happened up until October 6th.
I was the middle of recruitment, September 11th to be exact. It was between parties, and all of the sudden I felt a small, hard lump on my chest. Later that day, I also felt a small lump right above my collar bone. I immediately called my mom and started freaking out because any time you hear of a lump your first thought is cancer (at least for me, miss hypochondriac). All of my friends calmed me down and told me it was nothing, but I didn't feel right. The day after, I went to urgent care. The lady at urgent care was a complete idiot. She actually had to leave the room to "check up her anatomy" and see if there were lymph nodes in my chest. I pictured her running to the computer and looking it up on Google. Come to find out, there are. She prescribed me a million different medications including a viral nasal spray, antibiotics and steroids. I didn't fill them because I thought she was an idiot. Next, I decided to test my luck at Olin (the free health clinic at Michigan State). The doctor put me in a spell of crying because she had mentioned that this could be some sort of Lymphoma. She ordered a plethora of blood and urine tests, as well as a biopsy from a local surgeon. I went to the surgeon the same day who assured me that it was not Lymphoma and to come back and follow up in about two weeks. Two weeks went by and my symptoms only got worse. I started to have extreme pain in my chest and back. My fatigue increased dramatically and motivation was rapidly declining. My left breast grew to be two times the size. The veins on my left side were popping out. I knew something was wrong. When I saw that surgeon two weeks later, he knew he messed up. He ordered a biopsy another two weeks later. My mom finally decided that we should probably find another surgeon. We got a biopsy of the lump in my chest the next day. The next week, the results came back. Now we are at October 6th, 2016. |