Site Search:

Story from Natalie

During the spring semester of my junior year of college, at age 21, I started to have horrible headaches. I chalked it up to a migraine and my mother called my family doctor for a prescription. After taking the medicine for a few days and no relief from my headache I went to the hospital ER where they determined I was most likely having a bad sinus infection. After some IV meds they sent me home. My headache kept getting worse and it started to affect the vision of my right eye. The pain and the pressure were so bad that one night I drove myself to the ER and after an MRI of the sinus cavity the ENT determined he needed to drain my sinuses. I was on the operating table two hours later. The routine sinus surgery went fine but the doctor removed a mass the size of a walnut out of my sinus cavity. Not knowing what it was, he sent the mass to a pathologist who determined that the mass was osteosarcoma in my sphenoid sinus bone. This is a VERY RARE place for this type of cancer to form because most of the time it is found in the long bones of the body and is more prevalent in younger children. I immediately had to withdraw from college and started meeting with doctors about chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. I thought my life had been turned upside down. My life as I knew it would never be the same.

I started high dose chemo immediately at Riley. Everyone at Riley made a horrible situation much better. The doctors and nurses were so caring and determined to fight my cancer as best they knew how. The social worker assigned to me helped my family navigate through issues we didn't know anything about. Meanwhile, my parents started searching for a surgeon who had ever even heard of a case like this, let alone performed the procedure. My mother began scouring the country for a head and neck surgeon skilled in this type of surgery. I could not have asked for a better surgical team. They made sure that absolutely all of my questions were answered and my concerns were addressed. They would even call my house at night when they knew my family would be home just to make sure. Because my tumor site was so rare, the doctors talked about a very extensive surgery, going in through my face and the top of my head to get the best access to a clean margin. This was my biggest concern. I was a normal 21 year old girl before I went in to surgery. I wanted to be reassured that I would be the same when I came out of surgery. My surgeons were very aware of my fear and brought in a plastic surgeon specializing in reconstruction to stitch me up.

My surgery, which was very lofty even for the surgeon's standards, went very well. My only side effect from surgery is not being able to smell. The surgeons had to sever my olfactory nerve in order to get a clean margin. Sometimes I think this has been a blessing :) (I'm an elementary school teacher). During chemotherapy, when my blood counts went down I was tired. I was, however, more concerned and annoyed with the fact that I couldn't go anywhere because I might get a fever or an infection. I was lucky because I did not really start to get fevers until several months after I had started treatment. My surgery, part of my chemo, and my radiation were done in a large city about 11 hours away from my home. All of the doctors told my parents that when I was feeling up to it (and my blood counts were good) to go out and explore the city. There we were, in this melting pot, and boy did we ever explore. This is something I was very grateful for; the good times during my treatment made up for the times I was in the hospital with a fever or the times when my blood counts were down so low that I couldn't go anywhere.

My parents were the best caregivers I could have asked for. I don't know how I would have gotten through my 11 months of treatment without them. At times I wanted them to leave me alone, let me be a normal 21 year old; forget that I had cancer. They felt what I was going through but on another level. I had been away at college for 2 1/2 years and suddenly had to pack everything up and move home. My everyday routines were non-existent. My days were filled with blood transfusions and checking my temperature for a slight fever.

They were amazing. Both my mom and dad did everything they could to try and make my life as normal as possible; and when I was feeling well I did lead a normal life. After 6 weeks of radiation, a massive surgery, and 5 different types of high dose chemotherapy drugs (at 2 different hospitals) I am SO proud to say that I AM A CANCER SURVIVOR! There were times I never thought I would ever be done with treatment. Because my chemotherapy was given at such a high dose I did have some lasting side effects: I have lost some of my conversational hearing ability and now have to wear hearing aids. I also will only be able to have children through invitro fertilization because the high doses of chemo sent my 21 year old body straight into menopause. At first both of these were very disheartening, but the more I thought about it I realized that I am still alive and I am doing well. Lots of people in this world wear hearing aids and lots of normal women go through invitro fertilization to have children. After putting things in perspective the side effects are really not so bad after all. I am still here! Looking back on my entire experience, recalling some of what happened to and with my family and friends, it seems like that part of my life was so long ago, like it never even happened. I know that it was a very real experience; one that I wish no one would ever have to go through.

I have come out of this entire experience a lot more grateful for my family, my life, and my place in this world. I know that I am here for a specific purpose and although I may not know what that purpose is, I can do my best to LIVE STRONG every day and hope that maybe one day my story will help someone else.

I am Natalie Rhodes and I am a 3 year cancer survivor!!!!!