when and how this all started...

so many people have asked, "when did this start?" well i'll tell ya ... Feb 17, 2011 i went to my primary physician for a follow up for a UTI and i told him, "what the heck...i had a double ear infection, then UTI and now my glands are swollen?" and he said, "thank god you're not a dr because your glands are back here, that is a lymphnode." he thought it was an infection that needed a little boost breaking down and gave me another antibiotic. 10 days later i was in there again for that follow up, knowing that the lump in my neck had not gone down i was very curious. he had me do some blood work and had an ultrasound done that day. March 10th i went in for my results and they said there were 3 lumps in my neck. i was told that they would get a referral for a ct scan. it took a month to get the referral that i ended up not needing and fitting into their schedule. thursday april 14th had a ct scan and that evening i was at mikey's dance class and my dr called telling me a 4th lump was found(it scared the crap out of me to have the dr call himself and after hours). that following monday (april 18th) i was in for a chest scan and i got the results a few days later and on april 28th i had the 1st biopsy those results came back inconclusive so i was referred to an ear nose and throat specialist, i saw him on may 2oth and referred me to a pathologist for another needle guided biopsy so the following wed (the 25th) i had that done. the results came back (may 31st) that i tested negative for all types of cancers but unfortuntely needle guided biopsy rarely detect lymphoma so surgery was scheduled to remove the entire lymphnode and do a biopsy on it and that would give me the answers i have been waiting for...

so on june 2nd i went in for surgery. it was an outpatient very easy surgery but holy crap was it painful!!! i never knew we used our neck muscles sooo much! so once again i waited and on june 8th 2011 i went in to dr. weingarten's office with my brother and sister by myself and received the news, i was diagnosed with hodgkins disease.