On the other side of the bed a student learns from being a patient BY ELLISE MARTINEZ
I was leading a normal life as a pre-nursing student – studying, going to class, more studying, taking a breather when I could – until halfway through my second semester, when I felt a sharp pain through my back. It got worse, like electricity shooting through me, until I was near tears. One (failed) visit to the family doctor, one (painful) trip to a careless chiropractor and two trips to the emergency room later, it was discovered that I had a severe compression fracture in my T5 vertebra. “What did you do?” they asked me. Though I was disappointed and frustrated that the issue was not discovered sooner, I was relieved; having an answer meant I could finally work toward getting better again. It wasn’t that simple, though, as nothing ever is. My condition continued to worsen. I had pains in new areas of my body and felt very sick. It wasn’t until multiple trips back to my family doctor and the ER that doctors realized there might be a bigger issue and ordered a full-body bone scan. When the results of that scan were in, my family doctor called. “I need you, your mom and your dad to come to my office right away,” he said. “We think it’s cancer.” It felt as if the world had stopped spinning. My mind started going a mile a minute, trying to process what I was being told. My doctor had tears in his eyes as he told me that I had cancer in my spine, and the specialist had never seen anything like it in someone my age (I was 19). A liver biopsy confirmed my diagnosis: stage IV diffuse large B-cell nonHodgkin’s lymphoma. I became a patient at The James in July of 2016, where I underwent six rounds of chemotherapy, each three weeks apart, ending in October. Going through chemotherapy was the most difficult thing I‘ve had to do: not just in the physical aspect, but the mental health aspect as well. This was the first August that I would not return to school with my peers. One good friend and my family kept me afloat during this isolating and challenging time.
Elise Martinez relaxes at Adriatico's. 48 | nursing.osu.edu
After a final PET scan, I was declared in remission on December 28, 2016. To this day, my body is still recovering from the harsh effects of the treatment, but I am healthy and back to my (new) normal life. I started in the nursing program this year (did I mention that I was accepted?) and am exactly where I want to be in life. Though this experience did come with many hardships, it put what is important into perspective and made me grateful for the “normal” things. I’ve learned to advocate for myself as the patient, and I will enter my nursing career knowing how it feels to be on the other side of the bed.