Germ cell, my story so far.

Hi, my name’s Ellie and I’m 19 years old. I was in the middle of my first year at university and was having water infections and unexplained fatigue, days where I literally stopped being able to do anything from exhaustion. After about 3 times of being precribed antibiotics for the infections, I decided to push for more explanation to why I was getting ill all the time. A GP found a lump in my abdomen and suspected it to be a dermoid cyst, but on the 23/03/11 an MRI revealed that I had a 14x11x10cm germ cell tumour on my left ovary. A CT scan and biopsy showed that I also had a smaller tumour on my right ovary (approx 4cm) and that the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. Germ cell is a rare cancer affecting mostly younger women, only 1% of ovarian cancers are the same as mine.
I suspended my studies (hope to start my first year of uni again next year) and moved out of student halls where I had lived whilst at uni, to come and live at home with my parents while I undergo chemotherapy. I’m 2 courses into a projected 4 x BEP 5 day regieme. It’s definitely tough, I’m getting all the usual side effects including tinnitus, nausea, aches in my lymph nodes, neuropathy in my legs, hairloss, mouth ulcers and “chemo-brain”. I’m also experiencing the menopause complete with hot flushes because my ovaries have been “put to sleep” with the hope that I will recover fertility after treatment. There haven’t been any serious hiccups in the treatment so far. There’s currently a little concern about my lung function and possible damage by bleomycin (I got a cough 3 weeks ago and it still hasn’t shifted), and I had a low white count on a check up in my first round so I had a 5 day course of blood boosters, which gave me quite a lot of pain in my legs and lower back. In the second round when I was in hospital recieving chemo, they spotted I get a very low heart rate at night (about 40bpm) and this is also being checked out.
Even though this whole experience has completely upturned my life I remain positive. One thing I did before I went for my first round of chemo is raise some money for Cancer Research UK and awareness for germ cell and ovarian cancers by cutting my hair into a mohawk! http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljn91zSu9R1qg643uo1_500.jpg I came to this website to try and meet other people in my situation and have people to talk to who can really relate to all this. I’m always up for a chat!

I also have a personal/cancer journey blog at http://www.cohenstr.tumblr.com

I was diagnosed with ALL on September 29,2009.  Since then, I’ve finished my freshmen year of high school at home and finished 3 phases of chemotherapy treatment.  Now I’m in maitenance and it’s supposed to be the easiest phase, but its been pretty difficult so far.  Instead of spending 4th of July in Disneyworld like I was supposed to, I was stuck in the hospital with a fever and super low blood counts.  I’ve been off most of my chemo for about a month now because I had a rash, but my blood counts are still taking forever to improve.  It’s really frustrating because it’s preventing me from going on my vacations and going out with my friends.  It’s hard to explain this to any of my friends because they don’t truely understand.  They just keep telling me to stay strong, but in order to stay strong you had to be strong in the first place and I don’t feel very strong.  To top it all off, all of the changes that my body has been going through has made me extremely self conscious.  I didn’t lose all of my hair, but it is significantly thinner, I’ve gained about 15-20 pounds, and I have tons of stretchmarks, oh yeah and my face has become the roundest thing I’ve ever seen.  I handled everything really well for the past 10 months, but now I’m really starting to lose it. Thanks for letting me vent.

Chemo, love hate relationship.

I hate chemo. I hate it so much, the nausea, the jelly knees, the fatigue, the vomitting, the hair in the bottom of the shower and all over my pillow and in my hands. There are so many terrible side effects, the cure can be worse than the disease.

However, its the cure, and it will make me better. Its the only thing that will get rid of the cancer, and its helping me.

Its very weird to hate the thing saving your life this much.

So…sick… I hate chemo treatments.

My name is Caleb. I’m 17, and I have Leukemia. I was diagnosed almost a month ago now, and I’m starting my Chemotherapy. Yesterday afternoon, I started my second round.

Thank God the first round was easy on me. This second round is really kicking my butt.

I didn’t feel really well yesterday morning, anyways. And I had the option of either having the treatment this morning, or yesterday afternoon at 4, and I opted for yesterday afternoon, because I had a track meet this morning.

I got there around 4:00, and they hooked me up. I sat in the seat, and waited for it to finish dripping.

Halfway through, I got a HUGE headache. I mean, this was the worst pain I’ve ever had in my head. It felt like someone was hitting me in the head with a hammer.

I finished and went home about 2 hours later, after talking to some really close friends in the treatment place.

I got home, and went to lie down and watch a movie. My head was still pounding.

This morning, I woke up, and automatically felt sick. I stood up, and I was extremely dizzy. I spent the better part of the morning in and out of the restroom, and sleeping on the bathroom floor. I hate that.

I was usually pretty healthy. I never got sick before all of this happened, and I’m not used to it. I don’t like it.

After my numerous restroom trips, I finally worked up enough strength to make it down stairs to say good morning to my amazing mother, and I sat down at the kitchen table, and laid my head down. My mom felt my forehead, and took my temp and all that. Granted- she’s not used to this quite yet, either. She’s used to healthy kids, I mean, none of my 5 brothers have ever had anything that compares to this, and neither has my sister. Quite frankly, neither have I. She’s not very fond of us being sick at all, I mean, the flu season is a terrible time for her! I was running a fever of like… 102, I think. And my head was still killing me.

She sent me to lie on the living room couch, and when I laid down, I turned on Fired Up!, and soon fell asleep.

I woke up about an hour later, and I felt a HUGE surge of nausea, and I leapt for the restroom.

See, now, this is where my story gets pretty pitiful. I hate being sick. SO much. I absolutely despise it. But I’m smart enough to expect it with Chemo.

So, I spent a lot of my afternoon throwing up, and falling asleep, and throwing up, and falling asleep again, and on and on.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a very good day.

I hate Chemo treatments.

Who’s with me?