Odds of Living a Relatively Normal & Healthy Life Longterm?
Hey yall, male stage 2 cHL patient in my early 20s here, I'm in the middle of chemo right now and have started settling into the routine of treatment. Still waiting on my interim PET Scan results, but hoping for good news since some of my lymph nodes have already started to shrink.
Most people I've spoken to throughout this journey have encouraged me to think of my diagnosis as a temporary 6 month bump in the road, and that I have good chances of returning to a healthy life afterwards. I've seen that the long-term cure rate for my treatment is around 85-90%, but am curious to know if that applies equally to young people; even if my odds of relapsing are low in any given year, the fact that I'm hoping to live ideally a normal or longer lifespan while remaining healthy even though I've been diagnosed at a relatively young age has left me with some questions and worries.
On top of that I also know that there's risks of secondary cancers, heart issues, etc. and with all those risks to worry about I'm just wondering what the odds are of achieving a truly long and somewhat normal life after treatment, and would love to hear experiences from long-term survivors who were diagnosed at a similar age. I really want to believe that this can just be a temporary bump in the road and that I can live a healthy, cancer-free life, but also want to know the facts as well as what I can control to improve my health.