Lisa
Age:16
Hobbies: excellent pianist, playing in her high school band, singing in her church choir
Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Lymphoma (AML) at age 12
relapse at age 13
Effects of Her Disease:
1. Before diagnosis - tired a lot of the time, was constantly losing weight and didn't know why, kept getting sore throats and colds, often felt really weak
2. During treatments - still tired all the time, almost always felt nauseous, different smells of things she used to like made her feel nauseous at weird times, like the smell of peanut butter, lost some of her hair but she had been prepared for that
3. After treatments were over - not many lasting effects now except her hair never grew back to how thick it was originally and everytime she gets a cough or sore throat she's afraid the cancer is back
Experiences with Doctors:
Some were good and some were bad. She often had a hard time understanding what they were saying and her mom had to explain a lot to her.
One specific doctor stood out to her, her pediatric oncologist. She really liked him because his office was the nicest she was ever in. It was very colorful and pretty, it wasn't boring and drab like a lot of the other medical places she went to.
How Others Treated Her:
Everyone has been really nice to her. All her friends stuck by her, no one made fun of her because everyone at school knew what was going on. Her mom baby's her a lot, even now, she always worries about her too much.
Current Feelings:
"I don't understand why this had to happen to me. First I got the disease, then I got even sicker from the treatments they said were going to kill the disease. Then they said I was healed, and only 6 months later, the disease came back. So then, more treatments, more sickness, and they say its gone again. I haven't been sick now for about 2 and 1/2 years and I just pray it doesn't come back."
"I try not to think about it very often. I can't, or it will just drive me crazy. I just have to have all the fun I possibly can, and make the most of each day."
Future Plans:
She's not sure what she wants to do in the future for a career, but she hopes to go to college at Duke University
