I was diagnosed a year ago with Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma, stage 4, grade 2. I had developed severe pain in my stomach that was worse when I laid down so I slept sitting up for about 2 weeks. During this time made a couple of Emergency Room visits and was sent home with painkillers. Finally on my last ER visit they admitted me and decided to keep me in hospital for a couple of days as I had an MRI pre-booked further in the week. The MRI was to investigate a mass on my spine. The MRI showed the mass had increased in size and did not have enough room to grow any more without causing paralysis symptoms. Now that I look back these symptoms had all ready started( loosing feeling in my legs when lifting my arms and pain in my legs when walking). Two days later I had surgery to remove the mass. Had 5 treatments of radiation to get rid of the rest of the mass they could not remove in surgery as it was too risky. Radiation was hard on the body as it had to go thru my esophagus to get to the spine. A year later I am having chemo and dealing ok with that but I cannot be cured so it is palliative care. I feel the more knowledge I have about my disease is power for me and helps me to feel like I have some control over my life.
