CANCER (Hodgkin Lymphoma)

[00:00:02]Hello everyone.

[00:00:06]My name is Glenn and welcome to this video. So, this time I wanted to do another topic, another kind of video about my health in general. I want to give you all an update about how I'm am I doing after 5 years of cancer. It's almost 6 actually, yes. It's amazing how time flies.

[00:00:25]Really?

[00:00:30]This will be a more serious video this time. But first, what is this?

[00:00:38]Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bird is a word, eh?

[00:00:41]Bur- bur- bur- bur- bur- bur- bur- the bur. Yeah.

[00:00:45]Ah.

[00:00:46]Now I hear you thinking, Glenn, "Wow, you look amazing with that hair. Is that your real hair?" Well, too bad it isn't, but I really love this kind of hair. I wish this was mine, but this is actually a wig I bought uh somewhere during the cancer treatment in 2020.

[00:01:03]And the doctors told me, "Yeah, your hair will fall out. You You will maybe need a wig."

[00:01:08]And then I felt like maybe yes, but I only had partial hair loss and I never wore the wig. It was a lot of money, I think 700 euros or 800 dollars, and this was a lot of money because I never wore it. And now I decided in this video, let's wear it and show it.

[00:01:29]So, back in 2020, I made a video about my cancer while I was still undergoing treatment. And to be honest, I did not like that video at all. And especially because my hair had fallen out, yes. And I was experiencing chemo brain, which is a type of brain fog caused by chemotherapy. And this led to partial memory loss, difficulty concentrating, and stumbling over my words. Even now, yes, I have sometimes memory loss and stumbling over my words. Ooh.

[00:02:00]Now, lately I've been feeling quite tired and exhausted and I wasn't really sure why. I've been sitting a lot more because of gaming, but at the same time I've also been going to the gym more, yeah.

[00:02:11]And that sometimes give me arm, neck, and back pain.

[00:02:14]>> [music] >> Even reading for too long can make me feel drained and tired. And of course, I can't ignore the long-term effects of cancer treatments and even things like vaccines, the COVID vaccine, I don't know.

[00:02:26]The truth is fatigue can come from many different factors. So, in this video I'm going to answer 10 questions about my health, about the cancer that people have asked me.

[00:02:37]How is your health these days?

[00:02:40]On April 1st, I had a blood test and it's not an April Fool's joke, no.

[00:02:45]The results came back stable. Not perfect, but stable. There is definitely a difference between my blood values from before and after cancer. And this is because of the treatments, of course.

[00:02:57]Yeah. The chemotherapy, the radiation therapy targeted my bone marrow and yeah.

[00:03:04]They it needed to because the cancer cells were producing from there and now it's okay, but my healthy cells have been damaged as well and this led to lower immune system function. And the doctors say like, "Glenn, give it some time. Give it a few years. Everything will restore. We see this with other patients as well." But in my case, it does not restore. And I like, "No!" And now I have to deal with this. I have to learn to live with it. How did you discover the cancer? Over the years, I started losing weight without trying. I looked pale, I had shortness of breath, and eventually noticed lumps under my armpit and on my chest.

[00:03:45]Combined with inflammation markers in my blood, it became clear something was not right. How many times have you had cancer?

[00:03:53]One time.

[00:03:55]And that was in 2020. Of course, this type of cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, takes lots of years to develop. So, it could have been there already since 2010. I was also a passive smoker. Yes, because every cafe or restaurant allowed [music] cigarettes, and then I was there sitting in the cigarettes. And maybe that had caused mutations in my genes, DNA, and who knows. Now, from 2010 until 2020, it can take over 10 years if it's very slow growing. And so, it's possible it was already there much longer than I realized.

[00:04:34]>> Does cancer hurt? I would say no, because tumors are hard and yeah, painless. They are not painful because they are hard and not painful.

[00:04:47]Oh, great.

[00:04:49]In the early stages, I would say no because tumors often are very small, and they do not cause any discomfort or pain in the beginning stages. But when it advances, this is something different.

[00:05:03]It also depends on where is the tumor located? Is it on the chest, neck, armpits, or even deeper tissue like organs or spleen, liver, lungs? This is different.

[00:05:16]And then, even then, in these stages, you cannot feel anything at all because it is too deep inside. And yeah, often these cancer types are diagnosed too late because they do not cause any discomfort in early stages. In my case, I had an armpit lump and a chest, and this pressed on my ribs when I was sleeping.

[00:05:39]So, then I had pain, but the tumor itself does not hurt at all.

[00:05:44]What treatments did you receive?

[00:05:47]I had chemotherapy ABVD every 2 weeks each session lasting for about 4 hours and after that I went through radiation therapy for 3 weeks. Daily sessions of about 30 minutes focused on my chest.

[00:06:02]Did you get COVID vaccines?

[00:06:05]Well, yes. I got three of them Pfizer and I had no other choice back then. The vaccines came out and I had to take them because my immune system was down. I had no defense at all and I was seeing other people suffering from COVID and yeah, a lot of patients died actually from COVID and not from the cancer or maybe from the vaccines who knows. So, I had no other choice. I could not say no, I don't want it or yes, give it to me. Yeah, yeah, of course I'd say like give it to me now.

[00:06:36]Uh I'm getting chemo already so this can't be worse. Or is it? And would I personally now still take the vaccines? Hell no. I would not do it anymore.

[00:06:49]I don't know what's in there, but it can't be good. [music] It was made too quickly. I don't know.

[00:06:54]No.

[00:06:55]Is the cancer gone?

[00:06:58]That's a difficult question, but I think yes. But the only way to detect very small tumors is through scans like a CT scan or a PET scan. Blood tests alone can't fully rule out cancer.

[00:07:12]Right now, my blood is stable. I'm feeling okay and I have no symptoms. So, we can assume I'm in remission. But we can still not be 100% certain and [music] yeah, it is how it is. But I think I'm good.

[00:07:29]You are good, too. Yes. And if I ever decide to do an >> [music] >> PET scan or another scan, I will share this experience with you guys. So, you know what to expect if you ever decide to go through a scanner as well.

[00:07:44]Are you afraid it might come back?

[00:07:47]Yes, of course. I think every patient has this who had cancer before. It might return in the future or it may not. So, yeah, this is causing some anxiety. I had anxious thoughts about this as well, but I now have dealt with this better than I used to because you have to accept it eventually. We are not immortal or not yet. And yeah, our body is deteriorating. We are aging.

[00:08:17]We are getting older and we have to accept [music] it. And if you accept it, your life will be much easier. So, you don't have to worry about it all the time. That's not good. The treatments and diagnosis were tough, but for me the real anxiety started afterwards when life was supposed to go back to normal and it's not was really the case because I processed everything lying awake at night.

[00:08:40]>> [music] >> And that was the hardest part mentally.

[00:08:42]Can you avoid cancer? No, you cannot completely prevent it. No, you cannot prevent mutations. As we get older, we get more susceptible to disease, to cancer, and this is part of life. This is human biology, even animal biology.

[00:08:57]Yes, yes. But you can reduce your risk.

[00:09:01]Things like getting enough sleep, eating healthy, not smoking, exercising regularly, and managing stress.

[00:09:12]These all make a difference and mental health matters, too. Chronic stress or anxiety can affect your body more than people realize.

[00:09:20]What is your biggest fear now?

[00:09:23]I would say I will not live a long and healthy life unlike another healthy person, maybe.

[00:09:30]This is sometimes bothering me, but I have accepted it. This is very important. Accept that not everything can be as you want. Every person is different.

[00:09:41]Uh yeah, you cannot have everything in life. Otherwise, it would be boring maybe for everyone.

[00:09:46]But yeah, try to say to yourself, I'm happy as I am, what I've been through, I'm still here and I'm grateful with you guys that I can make this video. You are watching this video. I'm very grateful. Thank you so much. This is very important.

[00:10:02]And yeah, try to make the best out of it even if you are yeah, have a terminal disease or are in a wheelchair, you must stay positive. This is very important. I know it's easier said than done, but okay.

[00:10:18]Yeah, we are here now and this is all what matters. Tomorrow is mystery, yesterday is history. And the bonus question, advice for others going through cancer. I would say, don't lose yourself. This is very important because I know the word alone cancer like, "Whoa!" It's It's makes us shiver.

[00:10:38]And not only during treatment, but especially afterwards when you are out of the hospital, sent home back again.

[00:10:45]Sent back home again and then you are there in your couch like thinking, "Whoa!

[00:10:51]What I've been through?

[00:10:52]Whoa, this was like whoa.

[00:10:55]Like a roller coaster emotions, you are processing. So it's very important to get some help uh when you get back home again, especially mentally.

[00:11:03]See a psychologist or something because I did not do that and then I fell into a pit and yeah, you get anxiety, panic attacks and yeah.

[00:11:15]Also, be positive, but stay realistic.

[00:11:18]So we have reached the end of the video and I can only say, thank you so much.

[00:11:22]Yes, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And if you watched until the end of the video, you're awesome. Yes.

[00:11:29][clears throat] But you too. Come here.

[00:11:33]Yeah.

[00:11:34]You too, eh? You too.

[00:11:37]Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:11:39]You are amazing. If you still have questions, don't hesitate to put them in the comment section. And for now, take care, stay safe, and [music] see you in the next video. And you too, hey you too, eh?