Hello everyone it has been a long time since i have been on this site, in fact i didn't spend much time on here after my initial contact with here but i thought i would update my story and see if it strikes a chord with anyone.
I'm a 35 year old male living and working in Melbourne.
I have Follicular Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Stage 4a, with bone marrow involved.
I finished my chemotherapy at the end of January, 2011 so it has been almost one year since it ended. I've been very well since. I am now on the maintenance program which involves rituximab a.k.a mabthera once every 3 months for 2 years so i am due to finish this in May 2013.
I had a good chat with my Oncologist in my last visit, asked him simply if i still have cancer. He said yes, that the Lymphoma cells are active, but the Rituximab keeps them in a dormant state and the key factor for me is how long the cells stay dormant.
My guy doesn't use the word remission because he thinks it lures people into a false sense of being cured. I'm a realist so i definitely appreciate the straight talking approach.
2011 was quite the year as my wife and i had a baby! Our little girl was born in June and is thriving! I found though after the birth of our daughter that the fear factor returned with a vengeance, obviously because now had the complete reason to survive and live a long life.
I attended a couple of group support sessions with the Leukemia foundation, met some great people but did find the majority of the group, in fact all of them were elderly people. While i would never belittle their own journey i didn't get a lot out of it as i felt like i didn't have a lot in common because i was so much younger.
I certainly have no issue with discussing cancer with any age group but it occurred to me that it would sometimes be good to be able to connect with younger people who have it and get their perspectives on the whole journey.
Regards to everyone and will make more of an effort to log in here and keep up to date with people.
Ruairi
