Persistent 23-Year-Old Denied an In-Person Doctor’s Visit 7 Times During the Pandemic Is Ultimately Diagnosed with Lymphoma; She Was Told It Was Likely Covid

"There were multiple times people asked if I had tested for Covid and it was frustrating because other illnesses still exist and a cough isn’t just a sign of Covid," Girardier told The Sun. "I felt people would stare at me when I coughed and people instantly assumed I must have Covid."

When Girardier initially came down with a cough in July, she assumed it was just a cold. She struggled to get a doctor's appointment, but she was prescribed antibiotics, inhalers, and acid reflux medication. Nothing helped.

Girardier visited the doctor seven times before realizing that she was losing weight, prompting her to insist on being given a chest X-ray. The X-ray revealed a 4-inch-wide mass on her chest. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

With no screening test available for lymphoma, knowing your risks and watching for symptoms are the keys to an early diagnosis.

Some of the symptoms of this rare cancer of the lymphatic system include an unrelenting cough, itchy skin, night sweats, fevers, and unanticipated weight loss. Girardier will begin intensive chemotherapy just days before Christmas.

But she's not done advocating for herself. “I’m putting a complaint in to my doctors because I think I’ve been fobbed off for a long time due to my age," Girardier told The Sun. "I can’t believe it wasn’t looked into further and if I hadn’t pushed for the chest X-ray, I may still not have a diagnosis."

She says is ready for chemo, but she doesn't know how she will handle losing her hair. "I do my hair every morning and don’t leave the house without mascara, so losing all my hair is going to be tough," she said. "This cancer could’ve been caught three months earlier and I’m just lucky it’s this type of cancer and not one that progresses really quickly."

What is Hodgkin Lymphoma?

Lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system that affects infection-fighting cells called lymphocytes. And there are more than 40 different types of lymphoma.

"Lymphoma is split up into a number of different categories," Dr. Elise Chong, a medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, tells SurvivorNet.  "The first distinguishing breakpoint, if you will, is non-Hodgkin lymphoma versus Hodgkin lymphoma and those sound like two different categories. But non-Hodgkin lymphoma comprises the majority of lymphoma, and Hodgkin lymphoma is a single specific type of lymphoma."

Lymphoma comes in several different types, and knowing which one you have is important as you start thinking about treatment.

Hodgkin lymphoma has distinctive, giant cells called Reed-Sternberg cells. The presence of these cells, which can be seen under a microscope, will help your doctor determine which of the two lymphoma types you have.

There are a few other important differences between non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma to note. For one thing, non-Hodgkin lymphoma is much more common. And you're more likely to be diagnosed with it after age 55. People usually develop Hodgkin lymphoma at a younger age, like Girardier.

It should be noted that another difference between these two types of lymphoma is that non-Hodgkin lymphoma is more likely to spread in a random fashion and be found in different groups of lymph nodes in the body, while Hodgkin lymphoma is more likely to grow in a uniform way from one group of lymph nodes directly to another.

These two different types of lymphoma behave, spread and respond to treatment differently, so it's important for you to know which type you have.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are the main treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma. Depending on the case, one or both of these treatments might be used.

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