Patient no AN13

GENDER : FEMALE
BORN : 1952
NATIONALITY : SWEDISH
DIAGNOSIS : NON-HODGKINS LYMPHOMA CANCER

INFORMATION AS GIVEN BY THE PATIENT (MARCH 2009)

In January 1997 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, with a tumour on my neck and several other places in the diaphragm. The treatment consisted of eight courses of chemotherapy, doxorubicin, oncorin and prednisone. Thereafter ordinary scheduled check ups for the following five years.

In 2008 the cancer came back. I stayed numerous times for longer and shorter periods in the Radium Hospitalet. The treatment was tough. For me the chief adverse side effects were frequent urination and nausea. I was told that the chance of a successful outcome was 50%. Apart from the high dose treatment and isolation, they did several tests on teeth/mouth, heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines, bowel and stomach. After I was discharged, in October and November, further checks on these organs were carried out.

Whilst at the Radium hospitalet a good dialogue with the doctors was established, and also with those at the Rikshospitalet. Conversation flowed in both directions and a mutual trust was built up. Complications and unforeseen events were thoroughly followed up.

In 2008 I started with the ECT therapy and had 14 sessions in all, from the first in May until the end of the year, and scheduled around the treatment cycles at the hospital.

Reaction to the therapy: Immediate “timeless feeling” in body and mind (these merge), energy flow through new paths in the body. Anxiety disappears, you become one with yourself and other treatments work more easily. The apparatus probably also stimulated the body’s immune system.

The nurses noticed “good energy” in my hospital room – I usually had a single room. Received an exercise bike and it got used. As far as I can see, I was probably one of the patients that got through the treatment with the least amount of trouble, not least because of the ECT. My husband has also tried ECT and can confirm its effects.

Following discharge in September, it took a long time to build up a normal appetite – this improvement first started at the end of November. Not until then did my bodyweight start to increase.

Until that time I had a disturbed heart rate, raised pulse and difficulty urinating. I received medication for this. The adverse side effects disappeared when stomach and bowel function was stabilised. Starting in December my general condition has improved steadily.

At a follow up check in February 2009 I was free of symptoms.