A Battle With Lymphoma

It's August now, and a special patient of mine will be starting college this month.  This past spring she showed up in my office complaining of fatigue and a lump in her neck.  For the first time in my career, my hands started to shake after I examined a patient.  Not only did she have a large lymph node above her shoulder blade, I also felt multiple, enlarged lymph nodes scattered all throughout her neck region.  I had to compose myself as her mother asked what I was thinking.  I told that the very best diagnosis we could hope for would be mononucleosis; at worst, I was thinking about lymphoma.  I choked on that dreaded word, and the mother's face registered shock as I sent them off to the ER to be evaluated by the oncology team.  By the next day, her diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma was confirmed.  By the next week, she had already begun the first of three rounds of chemotherapy.  What I'll always remember about this young lady was the smile on her face when she welcomed me to her bedside.  While her parents told me they felt like they were living in a nightmare, this girl kept her spirits up.  Her bravery, and perhaps the resilience of youth, helped her through her chemo regimen.  Her prognosis is excellent as her cancer responded well to her therapy.  Now she's off, onwards and upwards, ready to start her freshman year of college.