Hi! I'm Crystal and I Had Cancer (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this story, I talked about my new job as a broadcast meteorologist. It was a morning news position which was the exact opposite of my previous job. This meant very early hours, waking up at 2:30 am to make it into work by 3:30 am before our morning show started at 4:30 am. It came as no surprise when I started feeling extreme fatigue after starting this job.

Fatigue from a new job or something more?

Work soon became my entire life. I would get home from work around 1 pm and immediately take a nap. I would sleep for about 3-4 hours, wake up, eat, and go back to sleep. I could no longer find the energy to go to the gym, hang out with friends, or even cook. I started getting sick non-stop. My whole body just felt off. I kept blaming it on my new work schedule. A lack of sleep could’ve easily been the reason behind all of these things that were happening, but no matter how much sleep I got, I never quite felt normal. I made excuses and ignored the warning signs my body was throwing at me.

A second swollen lymph node appears

In the meantime, I was constantly checking the lump above my collarbone and monitoring it, hoping it would eventually go away. It didn’t. I found myself constantly reading online forums about collarbone lumps and almost everything I read kept pointing to cancer. My symptoms of fatigue and lethargy also pointed to cancer. I kept talking myself out of it though and was in so much denial. It wasn’t until I found a lump above my opposite collarbone that I really panicked. This happened right before I was about to go on air and at that moment, I just knew that I had cancer.

Panic sets in

I could barely keep it together during that weather forecast, but I somehow made it through. After that, I immediately made another appointment with a DIFFERENT doctor. This new doctor took me much more seriously, which was surprising because she was a brand new doctor and was still under the supervision of a more experienced physician. She sent me through so many tests and scans. This process took a couple months, but finally, I got some answers. They weren’t the answers I had hoped for, but at least I finally knew what was going on. I was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin lymphoma.

Sharing my story

I went through 12 chemotherapy treatments and am happy to announce that I’m cancer free. Like everyone else who has been through a cancer diagnosis, I’ve navigated through this new world of cancer and learned a lot along the way. I was very open about some of my struggles and triumphs throughout my battle and I’m happy to continue sharing my story with the Blood-Cancer.com community. Thank you all for following along with me and if you ever have any questions or just feel like reaching out, you can connect with me on Instagram @mscrystalharper.

Read Part 1 of Hi! I'm Crystal and I Had Cancer.