Rebecca Perl's Journey with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

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Rebecca Perl, from Maryland, has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1995. Rebecca has a two year old son and she is a health science reporter. Her body has not responded to the last six months of radiation and chemotherapy. Rebecca and her husband Tom are going to Omaha, Nebraska. At the University of Nebraska Medical Center Rebecca will receive a bone marrow transplant and a round of chemotherapy(Perl,1995).
Rebecca and Tom head to Omaha, when they get to the hospital, the medical staff begin tests and blood work. Rebecca says, "I'm tired of being poked and prodded"(Perl, 1995). Rebecca states that she never thought she would be the one in the hospital because her husband had a kidney transplant, her brother was diagnosed with leukemia, and she is a health reporter(Perl,1995). On December 10th, Rebecca found out that her previous chemotherapy had not made the tumor any smaller(Perl,1995). Rebecca starts a more powerful form of chemotherapy, but later she finds out that it is not shrinking the tumor either, so her stem cells are filtered out of her blood and they are saved until after her chemotherapy. Rebecca finally has her transplant and soon after she starts feeling very sick. She said, " I feel fragile, anxious, and sick"(Perl,1995). Rebecca admits to Lorraine Brazier, her friend Graham's wife, that if it was not for her son she probably would not fight as hard for her life(Perl,1995). Two days after the transplant, Rebecca is back in the hospital because her heart rate reached 190 beats per minute. Since it is unknown what may have caused her heart rate to increase the doctors decide they are not going to treat the condition. Four days after Rebecca's transplant she is diagnosed with RSV and she was isolated. She had to be on a machine and wear a mask for eighteen hours a day. Finally Rebecca receives some good news, the stem cells that were transplanted are growing and reproducing new cells(Perl,1995).
Eleven days after the transplant, Rebecca is released from the hospital, and she is excited to be returning home. Four days after Rebecca returns home, she calls to check on her friend Graham and she is upset when she finds out he has passed away. Rebecca returns to Dr. Vose for a checkup and he delivers good news. One year after treatment, Rebecca's lymph node is back to its normal size(Perl,1995).

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