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Mike Lachtanski's Hodgkin's Story
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Life was going pretty well. I had a good job and I had a lot of friends. I lived in a great part of the country, and I kept myself super busy: worked hard and played hard. I was always too busy to stop and think about things for too long as there was always something to be done. I was certainly too busy to pay much attention to anything spiritual and I buried any emotional issues deep down inside so they wouldn't get in the way. Then life tossed me a big time wake-up call. Diagnosis: Hodgkin's Disease |
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It was now time to put the negative aspects of my life aside and stop putting off those things I knew I should do
but never got around to. Time to heal myself completely: spiritually, emotionally, and physically. I needed to take
the aspects of my personality that could be helpful to me and use them to solve this new problem that I was presented
with. It was also time to take the harmful aspects of my personality and do what I could to change them. There was no longer time to
leave things hanging as something I would eventually get to "some day". Reading the online book, "Fighting Cancer"
also helped bring some focus to my life at a time of great chaos. I quickly took the steps I needed to heal myself mentally and
spiritually so I could fous on this physical problem. I always was a problem solver and this was just a problem of a larger magnitude than I was used to. |
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I read a lot of books, and scoured the internet for information. In my readings, I concluded that it
was essential that I adopt a "take charge" attitude to get through this, which is in line with my normal tendency anyway.
After reading many, many Hodgkin's Disease abstracts, I found a couple of abstracts from 1995 and 1997 about the
Stanford V chemotherapy regimen. I knew when I read about it, that this was my best
chance to overcome this challenge, and so I called Stanford. I was told that they could not see me for a week and a half
after my confirmed diagnosis was due in, and that it would take them a week to review my case. I wasn't willing
to wait that long for treatment, so I called them and cancelled. I really wanted to start fighting back quickly,
and waiting a few extra weeks was not something I could handle. After talking to a friend who urged me to try
again, I called them back. I spoke with a nurse, Sheila, who listened with a compassionate ear, and she got me
scheduled for a second opinion the VERY NEXT day with one of their top Hodgkin's doctors. They were conducting
a Phase II Clinical Trial of Stanford V and I convinced them to admit me into the trial.
I started Chemotherapy on June 25th, 1997 followed by 10 weeks of radiation, which ended on December 18, 1997. |
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I received so much support from all my friends that I did not have to fight this disease alone. Each
prayer and kind thought was appreciated and I believe that each one made a difference. I kept
a journal online to let everyone know how I was doing throughout my treatment and I have decided to
leave this journal online so that new patients can also read it and get some perspective. I know I was eager to read
the experiences of other patients when I was diagnosed and I hope that my journal helps new patients in a similar manner.
Many people expressed a desire to help me through my treatment and I realized early that I had to accept that help to make it
through this challenge. Accepting help was very much not in line with my personality so it was uncomfortable to do so. The schedule of those that helped me by providing car rides to my treatment is also still online. Thanks again to everyone - you made a tremendouis difference! |
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I also have a post-treatment journal that is usually only updated when I go back for follow-up visits. |
