Jessica DeCristofaro shares her painful journey and urges folks to be advocates for their own health.
I had been blessed with great health and always made working out and eating well a priority.
That all changed when I developed a mysterious cough that simply wouldn’t go away.
Photo: Instagram/@jessdechris.
My primary care physician was the first to turn me away, saying it was justallergies.
I was given some over-the-counter allergy meds and sent home.
Months passed, and my cough got progressively worse.
It got to a point where coughing became second nature to me.
Over two years later, though, I started to develop other symptoms as well.
I started waking up every night because of night sweats.
I lost 20 pounds without making any changes to my lifestyle.
I had routine, severe abdominal pain.
It became clear to me that something in my body wasn’t right.
One said I had ovarian cysts, but a quick ultrasound shut that one down.
Still, I took the muscle relaxants and pain meds doctors prescribed to me and tried to move on.
But no matter whose advice I’d listen to, my pain never stopped.
I was only administered one blood test and one ultrasound that entire time.
I asked for more tests, but everyone deemed them unnecessary.
I was perpetually told that I was too young and too healthy to have somethingreallywrong with me.
You’re fine."
Eventually, my health started impacting my life as a whole.
Even I started to feel like I was crazy.
I started thinking, “Is it all in my head?
Am I blowing my symptoms out of proportion?”
This time, they determined I had kidney stones that would likely pass on their own.
No one at the clinic caught that.
When the ER doc on staff looked at my tests, he told me I wasn’t going anywhere.
I was immediately admitted and sent for testing.
Through the X-rays, CAT scans, blood work, and ultrasounds, I kept going in and out.
Then, in the middle of the night, I told my nurses that I couldn’t breathe.
Forty-five minutes later, I went into respiratory failure.
I don’t remember anything after that, except waking up to my mom next to me.
At that moment, I truly thought that was my rock bottom.
Now, everyone had to take me seriously.
But I spent the next 10 days in the ICU getting more and more sick by the day.
All I was getting at that point was pain medication and breathing assistance.
I was told I had some kind of infection, and that I was going to be fine.
It had spread to every organ of my body.
A sense of relief and extreme fear flooded over me when I was diagnosed.
Finally, after all these years, I knew what was wrong with me.
Naturally, I chose the first.
Thankfully, this time, I wasn’t disappointed.
From the second I met with my oncologists, I knew I was in good hands.
I was admitted on a Friday evening and was put on chemotherapy that night.
For those who might not know, that’s not standard procedure.
Patients usually have to wait for days before starting treatment.
But I was so sick that starting treatment ASAP was pivotal.
In April, the cancer came back, this time in my chest.
My Life After Lymphoma
Most people would consider me lucky.
But I didn’t come out of the journey unscathed.
Then maybe, just maybe, I could have started treatment earlier.
But you know what’s best for your health.
Don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise.
