Amanda's battle with Hodgkins
Amanda and I met a little over two and a half years ago. Our passion for cutting hair and love for the industry had brought us together. Amanda was a single mom raising a 15 month old baby alone when her and i started really getting to know one another. Seeing each other on the weekends and talking everynight I could tell she was the only one for me. A couple years and great memories later, we are still here happy as ever together. On March 3 2017, Our 3 person family became 4, when we welcomed our handsome son Elliot into this world.
Amandas pregnancy with Elliot came with some odd side effects. Most of which if we asked our Doctors and searched online would come up with similar answers leading to things that can happen during pregnancy. So these symptoms were brushed to the side. 3 months after Elliot was born, Amandas symptoms seemed to be getting worse. Her legs were covered in bruises and she would have these rashes that almost looked like she had psoriasis. After having to scratch her body hard enough to break skin just to barely relieve these itches she had, she took it upon herself to go back to see her primary. After having a blood test and check up (with the blood test coming back with some issues) Amandas Primary Care Physician recommended her to meet with a dermatologist and scheduled the next available appointment 2 months away. Upset and discouraged she decided to listen to her physician and somewhat deal with all this stuff going on with her body.
A month goes by and Amandas symptoms seems to be becoming unbearable. She started losing sleep just because of this insane itching. After noticing a few lumps in her lower neck and chest she went back to the Doctors where they went forward with doing an x-ray. Noticing a few shadows they ordered a CT scan of her chest which did not look good. A surgical biopsy on one of the lymphnodes came back positive for Hodgkins Lymphoma.
After a lot of effort and nonsense of trying to switch doctors we had finally met with an Oncologist who put our minds at ease, at least for the moment. He reasures us Amanda will get through this. It wont be an easy journey but we are going to beat this thing together.
Amanda is stage II and has a 6 month treatment plan. We go for chemo twice a month, every other week. Her first week of treatment was a rough one. She developed mouth sores almost immediately, had really bad chest pains and stomach pains landing her a week stay in the hospital. Her white blood count has dropped tremendously and is constantly being watched. Theres a special shot to help white count but she cant have it because her lungs wouldnt be able to handle it.
I have had to switch my hours at work decreasing them to almost half to be able to be home with amanda and the kids. Amandas oncologist does not want her to work for the duration of her treatment. With my hours decreased and her not working we could really use the money for ends meet. We have to travel an hour for treatment and getting her levels checked. Medical, living and child expenses are adding up on just one income. Any amount will dramatically help keep us afloat during the next 6+ months of treatment and will be greatly appreciated during this battle.
