For over a year I had been having exasperating bouts of itching and night sweats but I did not realize that these were symptoms of cancer. I had been working on my last year of undergraduate college and, when the doctors I consulted could offer no permanent solution, nor seemed overly concerned, I just tried to ignore the strange symptoms.

"The night I knew something was definitely askew was January 31, 2009."

I had traveled from my hometown of St. Augustine, Florida to Arizona for the premiere of film called “Human Like You” in which ten of my original songs were featured. I knew something was wrong when I woke up that night with my heart pounding and chest aching. The only way I was able to go back to sleep was to lay only on one side. If I lay on the other side, my chest would start aching.

Long story short, I went to a walk-in emergency clinic that day where I had blood-work, a suspicious x-ray, and a CT scan which revealed I had a seventeen centimeter mass in my mediastinum.

"I had never even heard of a mediastinum!"

It is a cavity in the chest, by the heart, lungs, and under the ribs. I was told by the doctor that it was likely I had cancer, but there was a good chance it was a kind that was highly curable. I got on the earliest flight back I could and underwent numerous tests including a bone marrow biopsy and a fine needle aspiration to the tumor.

"These tests revealed I that I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, stage 2B."

My treatment consisted of six cycles of ABVD, which equals twelve chemotherapy treatments each spaced two weeks apart. I had a power port inserted prior to beginning treatment which was a blessing because it allowed my veins to stay healthy. Halfway through ABVD treatment I was given a PET scan to determine whether the chemotherapy had gotten me into remission yet.

"I was given the good news that I was in remission"

And that this was a positive prognostic factor. One challenge I faced with the ABVD treatment is something called Bleomycin Toxicity that I didn't develop symptoms of until the fifth or sixth cycle. Bleomycin Toxicity is a reaction some people develop to Bleomycin, one of the drugs in ABVD.

Mine was detected after I came down with a fever I couldn't get rid of and had an increasingly hard time breathing. I was in the hospital for a couple of days until my oncologist (prompted by my mom who had been researching online) ordered a PET scan which revealed my lungs were indeed reacting to the Bleomycin.

I was put on steroids to reverse the inflammation. It is important to treat this condition as, left untreated, the damage can become permanent.

After I was released from the hospital and received my last couple of chemotherapy treatments and I did twenty days of a radiation.

"Emotionally, the cancer experience was (and honestly, still is sometimes!) extremely challenging for me."

Grappling with issues such as mortality, a rapidly changing body/appearance, the chance of becoming infertile, being “set back” in my plans to attend graduate school, etc., were intense as it was, add to that the steroids I was on for most of my treatment (was given along with ABVD and then to treat the pneuminitis) and an already psychologically “sensitive” person and you have a recipe for an....interesting concoction.

"It was hard."

Physically, ah, it sucked, I won't deny that. But it was not as bad as it could have been, that’s for sure. I didn't throw up once as a result of treatment, though I did come home from chemo with a stomach ache. The shots I was given to help boost my blood cells so I could stay on course with treatment caused aching bones. I was definitely pretty wiped out the first couple of days after a chemo treatment, but started to feel better as time went on. For me, the first treatment was the most uncomfortable because after I came home I just felt so weird and I couldn't sleep.

That being said, I was SO blessed by the care and support of both family and friends. My mom was very nurturing as were many other people who did everything from cook meals to showering me with get well cards. I felt immensely loved.

"Fast forward two years from diagnosis and you have me, here, today."

I am currently in Tallahassee working on a graduate degree in Music Therapy. I have been in remission for almost two years now. Overall, I am feeling pretty good most of the time. I am still working through some emotional challenges and continue to remind myself to think positively.

It’s hard not to be anxious sometimes but it has gotten easier as time goes on and I have no reason to believe it will not continue to do so. I am scheduled to play music in a cancer center here in Tallahassee at the beginning of March. I am really hoping I will be able to do that without crying.