Sylvia is a history teacher at a local school who went to see her GP after finding a lump in her groin
'When I saw my GP, he said I needed to have a biopsy taken of the lump, and sent me see a general surgeon at the hospital. When the results came back, they showed I had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
'I didn't really know what it meant, but I had this feeling that it was serious. By the time I went to see a haematologist at the same hospital, I was very nervous, especially when the results of a CT scan showed that I had stage III indolent, or slow-growing, disease, with swollen lymph nodes in my groin, tummy, chest and armpit. It made me feel as if I was being invaded by something. However, a bone marrow test I had at the same time showed that my bone marrow was clear, which was a bit of a relief.
'I still didn't know what that actually meant for me, and I couldn't believe it when the doctor told me that I had cancer. Then he told me that I would have to have chemotherapy and that I had a high chance of going into the menopause. Even worse, because, at my age, my eggs would probably be of poor quality, I couldn't have embryo freezing.
'Perhaps I was being a bit naive, but I was so angry when they told me. I was only 46. How could I have an incurable disease and be told that I couldn't have children? Okay, so I wasn't in a relationship at that time, but didn't want to have the choice of whether or not to start a family taken away from me, just like that.
'More importantly, I felt fine. I only went to see the doctor because I had a lump in my groin. Its not as if I had symptoms or anything like that. How could it be possible that I could be suffering from a life-threatening illness when there was, at least on the outside, nothing wrong with me?
'The next few weeks, at least as I remember them, were just a blur. The school managed to organise a supply teacher at the last moment, which was a huge relief, although the thought that I might not see the children again was too awful to contemplate, and I cried a lot.
'The doctors gave me six cycles of chemotherapy with monoclonal antibody therapy, which put me into partial remission. The thing I remember most is having unbelievable nausea the whole time, and I was incredibly tired, although that was partly because I could hardly sleep due to the waves of sickness that kept coming over me.
'During the treatment, my periods became lighter and irregular but didn't stop, and then ended altogether about 2 months later. I felt very strange and different and started to have one or two hot flushes everyday, which reminded me about my lymphoma. I was also very irritable at this time, and I had lots of rows with my sister.
'Because of the hot flushes, I had a discussion with the haematologist about having hormone replacement therapy (HRT). He said that I had the typical postmenopausal profile, which indicated HRT would be right for me, and told me about the increased risk of osteoporosis and heart disease if I did not take it.
'However, I didn't feel comfortable with having HRT and it was suggested that I try homeopathic remedies to control the hot flushes. They gave me sage capsules, which didn't work. So, instead I was prescribed a low dose of an antidepressant that was known to control hot flushes. That worked very well, and I felt much better.
'Although I only had a partial response to the treatment, the doctors decided that, because I have indolent lymphoma, they would adopt a watch and wait strategy and not give me any further treatment for now. In the 2-and-a-half years since, I haven't had a relapse and the disease has remained in remission.
'I have a CT scan every 6 months to check that the disease is still stable, along with bone density scans to check for osteoporosis. Despite the lymphoma having totally turned my life upside down, I am beginning to feel like things are getting back to normal.'
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