Ann-Marie's Page

Well, where do I start?

In my high school years I was constantly just catching or just getting over a cold, lots of ear infections, sore throats and sinus issues. After I graduated I began to experience extremely itchy hives all over my body. The hives would be so bad I literally could not sleep at night. I was put on anti-histamines which made me sleepy. So either I was unbelievably itchy or I was tired. I became bound and determined to find out what was causing the stupid hives.

I saw an allergist who ruled out any allergies. Then an ear/nose/throat specialist who said I should get my tonsils out. The hope was if we removed the tonsil, the hives would subside. Later I saw a reumatoligist who ran a complete blood test on me to rule out possibilities.

The next symptom I developed quite a while after was uncontrollable diarrhea. I literally could not work or do anything without running to the washroom at least every hour. I kept seeing my general doc and he told me to give metamucil a try. He really didn't have anything to give me. He said to stay away from the imodium as it can be dangerous? Well after about 3 visits to see him and trying everything I could to stop this problem, my mom finally came with me to demand that something be given. What did I get? Tylenol 3!! For the codene (to slow digestion)!

So here I was barely eating and popping T3's to control my bowels. In one month I went from 122lbs to 100lbs! On top of this I began to experience one of my eyes drooping and this made it really hard to concentrate on things. I could no longer sit up with out using my arms to help me up and I developed a horrible cough. I went to the mediclinic one night when I was feeling worse than usual and saw the doctor. He concluded that I most likely had pneumonia from what he gathered of my symptoms. He did a chest X-ray and gave me some anti-biotics.

The next day my GP called me and told me that he would need to see me. I saw him later that week and he said my x-ray showed something abnormal - TB or Lymphoma. He gave me the shot to see if I had TB and then when that was ruled out he explained that I may be lymphoma. He booked me for a CT scan that wouldn't be for a couple of weeks.

Remember that reumatologist? Well a few days later, I got a call from her saying that my blood sugar on the test was high and she wanted me to do the same test again while fasting. I did and later that day my GP called and told me that because of all my issues, I should just go in to emergency.

After getting into emerg and being told that I was probably just diabetic I had a CT scan done that revealed a large mass in my chest (4x8cm). It was suspected to be cancerous, actually it was called an enlarged thymus. This explained my drooping eye and muscle weakness. I had developed a disease called myasthenia gravis. I had also become diabetic. My diarrhea remained, even with imodium I had no control whatsoever. So I remained in the hospital and surgery was booked for the next week.

After surgery I woke up to mom, my dad and boyfriend crying. Later they told me, the tumor was cancerous. The doctors had cut open my breast bone as well as under my left shoulder to try to get it out but were unable to. The cancer's name: Thymoma and the stage: IVa

I began chemotherapy a week after that. Right away my hives disappeared. However my diarrhea did not. After 2 months of living in the washroom I was told by my hypnotherapist to take 20 digestive enzymes a day. Within 3 days, I was cured (from the diarrhea I mean). I had always believed in alternative ways but it was then that I realized they saved my life. I began vitamins and clean eating habits and I entered the world of cancer...