My name is Nikkole and I am 25 years old. In July of 2022, I started having leg pain, but I didn’t seek professional help until an incident in September that made me realize this was not normal leg pain. I had an x-ray but they didn’t find anything and I was put to PT before I could get an MRI. The MRI only found a small herniated disc that was normal for my age and job position, but unfortunately the doctors refused to look past this and look for another diagnosis. In March I visited another doctor that did a multitude of blood tests that returned some alarming results. Unfortunately this doctor had a heavy caseload and did not follow-up or advise properly. Out of desperation, I found an orthopedic surgeon who would not do further testing and diagnosed me with sciatica. I received an epidural in my spine that only took effect for a day, but the pain had returned. After losing my ability to walk at the end of April, I tried to see several specialty doctors whose schedules were too busy to accommodate me. So on May 31st my mother took me to the emergency room where we pleaded for them to help, at first they did not focus on trying to help with my pain but other symptoms I’ve been dealing with, after that examination we pleaded that they help with the pain and showed them the swollen lymph nodes; which finally got their attention.
The hospital did a biopsy on my Lymph Nodes and found I had Non-Hodgkin’s Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma. From June to October I was a part of the Car T Cell Trial, where I was a placebo patient receiving regular treatment of Chemotherapy. After receiving 6 rounds of Chemotherapy I became better and was able to walk. But two weeks after the completion of my chemo my lymphoma returned, and it came back more aggressive than ever. By the week before Thanksgiving I lost the ability to walk and was in insufferable pain 24/7. The doctors rushed me onto this new trial of Car-T (where I will be receiving the cells this time), and the Friday before Christmas I was hospitalized for my new treatment. My stay is expected to be 3-8 weeks long, and my recovery should be an additional two months.
Nikkole’s LifeList:
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Still deciding