The One Year, Post-Treatment Visit

My daughter, Crystal, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma when she was just 25 years old. She went through a little over 6 months of treatments, which consisted of 12 rounds of chemo.

Dealing with side effects

During her time with lymphoma, her white blood cell count dropped to extremely low levels, she became dangerously dehydrated, and she got high fevers that sent her to the emergency room more than once. It was hard on the family, but especially hard on her. Crystal was a trooper and tried to make the most of the time she was feeling well. She knew all of this would eventually come to an end, and eventually, it did.

Hodgkin lymphoma follow up

Crystal finally got to the last visit and all we wanted to hear was that the blood cancer was gone. Luckily, our follow up visit gave us the good news. All of her tests looked good and she was done with treatments.

The next big hurdles would be her upcoming visits, but the biggest one was her one-year checkup. This was the one we were looking forward to. We all knew, if this visit gave Crystal good news, the chances of her cancer coming back would decrease significantly. Her one-year check-up was December 2018.

Going for the one year follow-up visits

The day we went for her visit was cold but clear. We went into New York City, just like we did over a year ago, but this time our attitude, stress level, and nerves were so different. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were all optimistic. Our first visit here, a year and a half earlier, was the trip that would tell us what Crystal would be going through, what she would have to do to fight and beat her cancer. This time, we were looking forward to hopefully hearing the news that her cancer was still gone.

Our treatment day ritual on follow-up day

Like always, we walked from the bus station to the doctor’s office. On the way, I stopped to get a juice and we all stopped to get bagels. We were happy and enjoying the day in spite of the cold weather. We finally made it to the office. We all waited while Crystal went through tests and then, finally, it was time to see the doctor. We had to wait a little while, but it was worth it - the news was good! Her cancer was still gone!!

Many milestones ahead

We felt so happy, relieved, and blessed to have received such wonderful news and luckily, we were able to celebrate. We had hit one of the milestones she would have to pass over. Although Crystal got good news, she was not totally in the clear. We knew she had to go back to get her port out, the next milestone. Then, there would be her two-year mark. She would be back again the next December to see her doctor. She was not worried about it and tried instead to focus on her life and goals. We all felt optimistic that we would get good news and be able to put this part of our lives behind us, especially Crystal!