My name is Nicolas, and I am from Omaha, Nebraska in the United States. I am at stage 3 FL and was diagnosed in 2024.
I am a Union Ironworker, and I live with my girlfriend and our six-week-old baby girl. I was diagnosed at age 24.Â
I was out of town building 300ft tower cranes at a Microsoft Data Center. I got the call as we were finishing up a 12-hour day and I had to break the news to my crew and girlfriend later that night. I didn’t want to tell my mother until I knew more about FL.
I’m on my 3rd cycle of Bendamustine-Rituximab. I’m doing 6 cycles of B+R and am halfway through and will be doing another PET Scan to see how well it’s working.
I’ve been having quite a hard time with the side effects such as constant nausea, excessive sweating, frequent fever, brain fog, joint/bone pain, vein inflammation, chest pain and tightness, dental issues, and other unexplained abdominal pains. However, I know that there are much harsher treatments I could be undergoing, so I’m just trying to remind myself to be grateful. Â
I was actually surprisingly relieved in a way, oddly enough. I had been going to my primary care regularly as I had just not been feeling good for a good year and a half. She just kept doing different blood tests to try to find a cause but nothing ever came up until finally she did a CT scan once I had visible lumps from lymph nodes swelling. It was a hard thing for her to figure out because I didn’t present with any glaring symptoms I just knew I felt run down and fatigued in a way that I shouldn’t at my age.Â
It sounds crazy but it was just nice to finally have an answer. Â
I was 2 days post my second cycle when my first child was born. She was born at 5am so I had been up all night and was having a lot of side effects. It was very difficult to even stand by my girlfriend’s side, but it was still the greatest day of my life.
The side effects were too much for me to do my job the first week after chemo but by the second week I was able to drag myself to work. I bought a house a few months prior to being diagnosed so I really can’t afford to miss work as much as I already do.
I know they say B+R is usually well tolerated but it’s been quite rough for me. I got appendicitis after my second cycle and had my appendix removed, two days later I was back to work although it was very difficult.
I’ve still been able to build a few tower cranes which is a special crew I’ve worked hard to get on. This includes the tallest tower cranes ever built in Nebraska at 800ft.
That was a very cool thing to experience especially considering what I’m going through at the moment.
I really just take it day by day. Some days I’m pleasantly surprised and sometimes I feel much worse than anticipated.
Take it one day at a time, stay as active as possible, eat healthy, don’t be afraid to accept help (I need to take that advice myself sometimes).
