Well allot of you do not know the story behind why I have been in Columbus for so long. Figure it is about time to clear things up now that everything is back to normal. (for the most part)
I joined the Army in Feb 2007 as an 11B. Did my OSUT at Ft. Benning, GA. From there I took orders to Ft. Polk, LA. I was there for 6 months and bam deployed. I did 14 months in Baghdad on fire base JSS SUJ. Everything was normal about the deployment, I.E.D's, E.F.P's, complex ambushes, etc. Well we came home in January of 2009. That is when I discovered a swollen lymph node. I was told by our PA that it was nothing don't worry about it. Week passes it is still there no changes. A squad leader of mine notices me messing with it. (Like a bouncy ball just above my collar bone) He tells me go to the hospital have it looked at.
I then go to the post Hospital to get it looked at by the Army doctors of Ft. Polk. They tell me it appears to be a swollen lymph node nothing major but they order a CT Scan of the chest/collar bone area. Hours later, they tell me scan came out they say looks normal no big deal.. Hours later, I am back in my room at the barracks, the doctor calls me and tells me to he things I should do a biopsy of the lymph node. I figure whatever they seem confident it is nothing. I return back the next day do the surgery, it's an in and out thing. Doctor says no big deal you will get a call in a week or so when we get the results. I say cool. Head back to my unit go about my business (we just returned from deployment so of course there is a whole lot of shit going on).
Next day get a phone call from my mother in a panic. She says she spoke with the doctor and he had said that there was a possible chance that it was cancer. I say no mother we spoke yesterday everything is fine, quit worrying about it, I am only 20 years old!
Doctor calls me back 20 minutes after I am off the phone with my mother. He specifies that I need to come to his office he needs to speak with me...
I grab my squad leader and head to the hospital. As I am sitting there I am like what in the hell is going on, oblivious to why I would be there! Well he comes in, in the verge of tears, tells me that they believe I have cancer of the lymph system. They need to run more tests. I am just silent, no idea how to respond. I am 1000 miles from home, no family, tired, worn out from my deployment, and now I have this on my plate! My squad leader takes me back to the barracks where I call my mother. Of course that turns into an hour long session of her crying telling me to get home.
I head up to my company area and sit down with my 1SG and Commander and explain the situation. They are in complete shock. They immediately say get to Ohio. I flew home that night. The next day I was at Zangmeister Center by the airport.
I was officially diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in the stage 2 form. I was then put on a chemotherapy/radiation plan. So the spring and summer of 2009 I was pretty much sucked into that. I didn't speak of it much and only a few people knew about it. But I have been considered in remission for the last 8 months! And since then I got an return to duty from the army. So sure enough I am back at Ft. Eustis, VA about to re-enlist another 4 years in the good old army!
Sorry about the long read, but it is a proud moment in my life that I am able to return to duty and go back to my job healthy again. It has been a long long long path to recovery. But I would like to thank allot of you that were there for me and kept me company and kept my spirits up throughout the entire experience.
