Unlike many on a cancer journey, it took Jenni Dyrdahl was taken on a lengthy, circuitous, painful ordeal before she was correctly diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer. It began when she felt acute pain in her leg and her hair started to fall out. Doctors put her on physical therapy, then mental therapy, then was prescribed narcotics and told she should be fine. During subsequent visits, she was brushed off as a “drug seeker,” as she was crying in pain. Incredibly, it wasn’t until she was hospitalized with a broken hip, did doctors discover she had an advanced form of lung cancer.
For Jenni Dyrdahl of Fairbault, Minnesota, her cancer journey began in the summer of 2017 when she felt acute pain in her right leg. The pain would not go away and her hair began to fall out. She made ten trips to emergency rooms as she could barely walk, but by way of treatment, the best she could get was prescribed narcotics. Eventually, she received x-rays and an MRI, and was told she had pain in her back. Jenni insisted the pain was in her leg, and she needed for it to be treated. Multiple health care professionals said there was nothing wrong with her, and that she showed up in their office seeking drugs. Jenni was reduced to tears because of the pain and the depression that came with nobody listening to her.
Her problems were compounded when an argument with her now former husband resulted in his throwing her in their garage. Jenni was taken to the hospital with a broken hip. She ended up going to the emergency department an eleventh time. At first, the doctor was not going to give her any pain medication, but an x-ray showed she had a broken hip. Then and only then did she something prescribed for her pain, but doctors also said she needed to be taken to a hospital. Things didn’t get any better for Jenni when she was taken to a hospital without a trauma unit. She was transferred to a second hospital, where further tests showed that in addition to a broken hip, she had an advanced form of lung cancer!
Because she was diagnosed PDL-1+, she was able to undergo immunotherapy and avoid chemotherapy. Jenni started out with chemotherapy, but she became so sick, she insisted only on immunotherapy, a switch to which her doctor agreed. She went on Keytruda, which she said was so much better than chemotherapy. Her Stage IV metastatic adenocarcinoma comes back every 21 days because it is incurable, but Jenni is happy the Keytruda has kept her alive. It makes her joints ache and her mouth sore, but those problems pale in comparison to what she went through with chemotherapy.
Post-treatment, Jenni’s life is different. She has a tough time walking upstairs, if it is humid outside, she cannot stay outside for long, and she says some days, she gets sick for no reason.
Going forward, Jenni Dyrdahl says she hopes more people will be able to get screened for lung cancer because without early detection, it is very difficult for one diagnosed to achieve survivorship. She also urges you to get your home tested for radon, as radon can be a cause of lung cancer.
Additional Resources:
Support Group:
A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation https://www.abreathofhope.org
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