February 2018 is a month that I will never forget. It was the month I found out that I had testicular cancer and I had to have surgery to remove a testicle. I don’t think I ever cried more in a single day in my life. I remember being in the urologist’s office and just breaking down because its one of those things that you never think you will get, but then you research it and its like the age group that gets this kind of cancer and I’m right smack in the middle of that group. I remember calling my parents that day and telling them that I had cancer, and that I had a surgery scheduled for the following Friday the 16th of February 2018. It helped to have my dad drop everything he was doing to fly back home so he could take care of me for the 3 weeks. It really took me that much time to recover from the surgery, and then meet with my oncologist at Markey Cancer Center in March.
We went to meet with the oncologist in March, only to find out that they didn’t get all the cancer out with the surgery, and that I needed to have chemotherapy starting the next month. I would go through 3 rounds of chemo starting in April 2018 and an additional CT scan in June to check if the cancer was gone. The chemo rounds would go Wed-Sunday week 1 then weeks 2 and 3 would just be Wednesday sessions. I would finish with Chemo on June 6th 2018. But before that took place, I had to have another surgery. I had to have a port surgically implanted before my chemo treatments could begin. The day I got my port placed I was in the hospital for close to 12 hours, going without any food or water for nearly 24 hours.
Chemo for me started on April 11, 2018, and the first couple days I was ok and able to sleep alright. Then about day 4 of the first cycle, I struggled to sleep. Every time I rolled onto my side, it made me queasy and woke me up. A lot of people sent me cards and some people sent me gifts for my time in Chemo wishing me well. Other people called me and texted or Facebooked me to make sure I was doing ok. I missed a lot of work during this time. I worked part time and reduced hours because of the chemo and the fact that I couldn’t exactly be around people at the time because I couldn’t risk getting a cold. My hair started falling out by the end of the first round, so I just had my mom shave all my hair off. I didn’t want to deal with my hair falling out all the time when I went to shower. The worst part of the chemo treatments was the lack of sleep, and the fact that I had a needle shoved in my port for 5 days. During the 5 days I had infusions, I couldn’t sleep on my stomach. There were a lot of days that I didn’t even want to go to chemo because I would wake up and just throw up or get up at like midnight and throw up multiple times.
If it wasn’t for my family’s support of me and my fiancé and her family’s support, and a lot of emotional support from friends, I don’t think I could even make it through that process. Chemo took a huge toll on me. I wasn’t eating a lot. I couldn’t go out and eat with my friends because I couldn’t afford to get sick. Chemo knocks down your immune system at the same time that its killing the cancer. I struggled through it all trying to work and go to chemo treatments with my mom. I stayed at my parent’s house during all of this because I couldn’t want to drive, and really couldn’t drive during my chemo treatments. They also drove me to work when I felt good enough to do some. While on chemo I thought a lot about what I was doing with my life and this is where I came up with the idea for wedlund reviews.
Life after cancer is a little easier. I’m now able to go out and enjoy life again and see friends. I’m not afraid to shake hands anymore as I was when on chemo because I couldn’t afford to get sick. I can eat more, but I have started to look at eating healthier options rather then the cheaper options of McDonalds or Hardees. Cancer made me take a hard look at my life. I decided that it isn’t worth ignoring how I eat and treat my body. If I wanted to change, I had to make that change. I made a commitment to myself that I would start eating healthier and start going to the gym and getting my strength and energy back. It took Cancer to get me to make that change though. I hope that it doesn’t take that for some of you that read this, but for me this is what it took before I could really alter my lifestyle. I found that some of my hobbies were no longer fun after Cancer, and I am finding new hobbies. I found that listening to music was a way to get me through cancer treatments and that is one thing I wanted to keep doing was listening to music afterwards. I’m a DJ, so music was already a big part of my life. I worked towards having a better musical understanding of things and listening to more varieties of music.
A big shout out though to the nurses on staff at Markey Cancer because they love the patients so much there. I remember being there multiple times just throwing up into the toilet or into buckets or the barf bags that they had there for cancer patients. And the nursing staff would just come and check on me or other patients like me going through it. A big shout out to nurse Pam who accessed my port on Wednesdays when I had an oncology appointment. She would always find a way to encourage me to keep going even when I didn’t want to. A big shout out to nurse Sue who works weekend in the chemo infusion rooms at Markey never forgetting a patient’s name that she is taking care of. Cancer is tough, so it’s nice to know there were lots of people who cared and helped support me through that process.
October 16, 2018
Jason, you are just an amazing person. No matter what challenges life throws your way, you stay on track and keep fighting. I am SOO thrilled that you beat cancer. There is nothing you can’t accomplish in this life. Your life is inspiring to me. It has been for over a decade already.