Survivor In Remission For 33 Years

I am glad to have found this website/message board.  I often wonder about people that have survived Hodkins Disease from so long ago.  I am 42 now and was diagnosed in 1974 at the age of 9 with Stage 3 Hodkins.  I underwent Chemotherapy alone and have been in remission since 1976.  I have had many other medical problems that I often wonder if they are related to the cancer and treatment.  As friends of mine say, I am hollow.  I have had a spleenectomy, appendectomy, hysterectomy and gall bladder removed.  I have GERD and hypertension.  I have recently been diagnosed with early onset of Osteoporosis and am currently going for consultation for lesions found on my spine and my femur.  I would love to hear if anyone has had any of these problems.  I see GERD quite a bit in the message board.  I am blessed with two beautiful daughters and two very young beautiful grandaughters.  I have a wonderful husband of 23 years.  I consider myself very fortunate.  Good luck to all of you!

Vinnie here, i too had Hodgkins 3B area infected was my abdomen, went for 6 mos of ABVD, now in remission, had it for a year, during the later stage had problems swallowing, had squeezing pain between my shoulder blades. After chemo therapy went for a myotomy test was diagnosed with Achalasia-diffuse esophageal spasms, pain in the upper back was GERD, so they say.Had 2 Bo-tox procedures, little improvement, having doubts about balloon dilation. My diagnosis, the lymphoma infitrated into the myenteric plexus, thus degenerating the ganglion cells. Now have chronic lung-scarring from the bleomycin-Cheers Vinnie

 

On 7/18/2007 dbsleepy wrote:

I am glad to have found this website/message board.  I often wonder about people that have survived Hodkins Disease from so long ago.  I am 42 now and was diagnosed in 1974 at the age of 9 with Stage 3 Hodkins.  I underwent Chemotherapy alone and have been in remission since 1976.  I have had many other medical problems that I often wonder if they are related to the cancer and treatment.  As friends of mine say, I am hollow.  I have had a spleenectomy, appendectomy, hysterectomy and gall bladder removed.  I have GERD and hypertension.  I have recently been diagnosed with early onset of Osteoporosis and am currently going for consultation for lesions found on my spine and my femur.  I would love to hear if anyone has had any of these problems.  I see GERD quite a bit in the message board.  I am blessed with two beautiful daughters and two very young beautiful grandaughters.  I have a wonderful husband of 23 years.  I consider myself very fortunate.  Good luck to all of you!

 Thanks for sharing your story.  I was diagnosed with Stage 2 HL in 1989 and have been cancer free since then.  I try to keep a good attitude and approach life one day at a time, remembering my blessings and cultivating gratitude for all I have.  I too consider myself very fortunate.  God bless you!

Hi there,

 

I am a 20 year survivor of Hodgkins. I was recently diagnosed and treated for colon cancer. I was told it was possible that it was due to radiation treatment I received. I urge all long term survivors who had radiation over the abdominal area to get a colonoscopy. It does not hurt and you may be glad you did. Early stage colon cancer is very curable.

I am currently cancer free and now have to live with checkups every 3 months for a while. I take every day as it comes and try to stay as positive as I can.

Cheers, Lance

Dear dbsleepy:

I was so glad to see your message -- I was
treated for Hodgkins in 1974 -- 34 years ago.  I have been trying to
find people like me so I can see if they are having similar issues
related to the treatment received.  In the last couple of years I've
had chronic neck and shoulder pain, due to weakness of the
underdeveloped muscles.  I find that it's very hard to work on these
muscles without causing more pain.  Do you have this problem too?  How did you discover the lesions on your spine?  I'm not sure what GERD is so I'll have to look that up. 

 Looking forward to chatting!