Hi everyone!
When I was seventeen I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-hodgkin's lymphoma. I had six tumors all through my body (blood, bone, and organs) and the biggest was about 12cm in diameter, in my chest.
After lots of treatment I got the all clear - I'm under regular observation, but I have a lot of anxiety about relapsing, and I don't really understand the likelihood of relapse, despite talking to my doctors.
I imagine there's a significant risk of relapse after stage 4 cancer - but does the fact that I got the all clear change that amount of risk? Does the risk really go down, almost to normal levels, after five years?
I'm three years out from treatment, and I don't really know where I stand. Every time I feel my fatigue worsen I'm convinced of the worst, but then find out I've just overdone it, physically.
I think I'm afraid because originally, we only caught it after my lung was crushed by a tumor to the point where it collapsed. In hindsight I see the symptoms leading up to it... But that was stage four. What if I have a low-grade cancer growing, for example, but it's asymptomatic right now and so with no warning signs, no scans are being done? These are the anxieties that I have working on me!
If anyone has any advice or anything, it would mean the world. Living with this anxiety is so difficult!!
Love, Nísa
