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Story from Nina

My name is Nina and I am a cancer survivor. I just turned nineteen years old and finished my first semester of college. Thirteen months ago I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. I underwent nine months of chemotherapy and a limb salvage surgery, but I am now cancer free.

I never thought that two months before graduating from high school, I would have cancer. I just finished my fourth season as a high school gymnast and I was surprised and happy that I had not had a serious injury. I knew that one of my knees had been slowly getting larger than the other but I never considered that a cancerous tumor was growing.

Many people ask me how I found out that I had cancer. It's not everyday that you go to a doctor to check to see if you have cancer. I went in just because my knee was bothering me. It was becoming uncomfortable to sit in a car for a long time, and I was having trouble sleeping comfortably because of my knee. Although I didn't have severe pain, I just wanted to go to a doctor to find out if there was anything I could do to reduce the "swelling" in my knee or to stop the discomfort. That same day, after having my knee x-rayed, the doctor called my house and asked me and my parents to come back to the hospital that night. That's when I found out I had a tumor. I knew that couldn't be a good thing but I knew that no matter what I had my faith in God and a very supportive group of family and friends to help me. After the next week of tests and a biopsy, I was told that the tumor was cancerous. Then another week later, I started chemotherapy. So within two weeks I went from having an uncomfortable swollen knee to having bone cancer and starting chemotherapy.

Although I would gladly have kept the uncomfortable knee instead of going through nine months of chemotherapy, I am now glad that I don't have cancer. I say this because many people asked me if the cancer was making me sick. The answer is "no" because it is the treatment for the cancer that was making me sick. It seems strange that a "medicine" makes you more sick that the sickness. Although I say I would have kept the bump in my knee, I never thought about not doing the chemotherapy. When I found out that chemo was the only treatment for my cancer, there was no doubt. I was definitely going to have the chemotherapy.

I didn't enjoy being sick from the chemo all the time. I didn't enjoy not being able to eat, having sores in my mouth, throwing up all the time and having no energy. I also didn't enjoy being cold a lot, having many bloody noses, and having to stay away from my friends sometimes. However, I learned a lot while going through treatment. I have been able to relate better to many people who have gone through cancer. I also learned how important family and friends are. Personally, I also enjoyed meeting the nurses and doctors, getting lots of cards, having people clean my room for me, and being waited on by my sisters.

Talking about osteosarcoma to my friends was not too difficult for me. I just explained that I have a tumor growing in my knee and that I have to have chemotherapy to treat the cancer. In my case I tell them that the chemotherapy has a very good chance of getting rid of the cancer. Many times after making a joke about having no hair, someone would ask me why I didn't have hair and that was a good opportunity for me to tell them about what I was going through. Many teenagers and young adults know someone older going through cancer but they don't know anyone their age who has had cancer. I enjoyed telling others about what I went through because I think it is good for people to understand what cancer is so that they can relate to others who have cancer.

For me, it was difficult talking even to my friends who knew that I had osteosarcoma. Many times I just didn't have the energy to talk to people. It was just too difficult and stressful to write an e-mail or to talk on the phone. I knew that my friends were just trying to be good friends but I just couldn't do it sometimes. Also, I had trouble because they always felt bad about what I was going through. They don't know what to say or how to joke about the situations. I also had trouble talking to my friends because I never had anything new to tell them about (except for stuff at the hospital but that gets boring very quickly). I didn't have anything exciting and interesting to talk about like they did.

For me, having cancer really brought my family closer together. Having all the extra time in the hospital with my mom, dad, my sisters, or brother really help me to build even stronger relationships with them. My dad and I had fun playing spider solitaire together on his laptop computer when he would come visit me in the hospital. My mom and sisters would make special trips to go and buy me food that I thought I might be able to eat (although that wasn't always successful), and my brother would tease me about having no hair which kept me smiling.

However, having cancer was not always easy on my family. My mom had to take a lot of days off work to be with me in the hospital. My family often had to deal with me not being able to help clean the house or picking up my many prescriptions drugs at the pharmacy. They also had to constantly answer the question, "How is Nina doing?" Although it is not a bad thing that others people cared enough about me to ask how I was doing, sometimes it can be overbearing to answer the same question over and over again. My family was great throughout the whole time I had cancer and their effort really did help make having cancer easier for me. I tried to make it easier on them by not complaining too much and by not asking for too much.

Also at times I was not always the most fun person to be around. I was sometimes grouchy and not the easiest person to please. My family was very tolerant of me having many nosebleeds and throwing up but I know not everyone can handle that very well. But now that I am done with treatment and I am going to go off to college, I see how my family is a lot closer and how I really will miss all the extra time I had with them.

I was only in treatment for two months of a school year. After those two months, I graduated from high school and took a semester off before attending college in the Spring semester when I was done with treatments. During those two months of technically being "in school", I had a lot of trouble doing any type of school work. I didn't have the energy to do the work and when I was feeling good, the last thing I wanted to do was homework. I did however really enjoy going to school the few days that I was feeling well. I was scheduled to take all of the final exams at the end of the year and that was really stressful for me. I didn't really know where to start studying and again I was not really excited about getting back to doing school work. I ended up not having to take any of my finals because I was sick the entire finals week. I did graduate however even though some of my grades were lower than they probably would have been. After several months of chemo, I did start to miss doing school work. I actually wanted some math problems to solve or some textbooks to read. I wanted to do some studying because I realized that the only time I was exercising my brain was when I was watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. So I got many crossword puzzles, some math games, and a textbook to read.

I think one of the most important things while going through cancer is to not shut yourself off from people. Tell your family or friends what is going on with you if you can. I know that at times my emotions were going crazy and I would get upset about stupid things or that I would cry even if there was nothing to cry about. I was never angry that I had cancer because I knew that it wasn't my fault or anybody's fault that I had cancer. Even though I would rather be feeling well, God had a reason for me to have cancer. I knew that getting angry at my parents or the doctors wasn't going to help me get better. I was sad sometimes when I thought about not being able to do gymnastics again or to jump on a trampoline because of the replaced knee that I have, but now I am grateful that I can go up and down steps and that I can ice skate (very slowly of course). I have even climbed a tree recently. I am lucky to still have my leg and therefore I don't complain about not being able to run or jump.