I should have ben into my R-CHOP chemo treatment by now, I was due to start at the beginning of May, but life threw a curve ball and I had to delay treatment as I broke my arm the weekend before it was due to begin. I've got lymphoma in my left arm, a tumour right on my upper bicep, which has also substantially weakened the bone. I tripped over the door lintel coming into the house and dunched my left arm against the door frame. I heard it crunch, then the most God awful pain, it was clean broken....so it's off to A & E, sit 6 hours in the trauma and fracture clinic, then referred to Orthopaedics to see what can be done.
Step 1. Cancel the planned R-CHOP, or more accurately, delay it till the arms fixed
Step 2. Get a fast track appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon, who immediately booked me in for a metal plate repair job.
Step 3. In hospital for a couple of days, God Bless The NHS, and the plate is fitted.
I'll be 66 years old next week and I've never broken a bone in my life. Here's a thing....it bloody well hurts, and without a functioning left arm it takes a while to learn how to do anything at all, and whatever I can do takes so much longer.
So now I'm about a week post surgery, got my broken wing in a sling, and it seems to be healing nicely. Got a phone call from haematology this morning inviting me back to clinic next Friday to discuss where we go from here, so with a bit of luck I can start R-CHOP in the beginning of June. Soonest started, soonest finished.....
I'm treating this as a blip, just a slightly different path on my journey with lymphoma.....as I keep saying, 'Worse things happen at sea' so this is a little thing.
Learning has occurred, though.....I never knew lymphoma could affect the bone in that way. I'd better be more careful going through doors in the future!
Me
Hi again Conundrum1956, good to hear that your arm is on it's way to being fixed and that your Hematologist is looking forward to when you can start treatment.
Yes Lymphoma can affect anywhere in the body and we have had a few pass though the group who had the same presentation as yourself....... my type was 'on' my skin....so the tumors that people have inside their body - I had them visible on my skin so it was a rather visible presentation over the years 
Take care and let's look for les bumps on the road - I think the picture below sums up the Lymphoma journey.
Well done and it sounds like a good start.
The first R-CHOP treatment tends to be a ‘long day’ just to keep an eye on you but you should expect the test to be quicker……. mind you I will always be envious about these ‘long days’ as my 6 treatments were over 120hrs on my two IV pumps 24/7 so in hospital for 5 nights/6 days….. but we do what needs to be done.
Just remember to aim to drink 2 litres of water everyday as this will flush out the toxins and protects your kidneys. Generally it takes about 48 to 72 hours for your body to break down and/or get rid of most chemo drugs.
But the effects of the chemo on your growth areas and your general immune system will last for weeks and is important to remember that you may well be more open to infections at about days 7-14 as this tends to be the window when our immune system is at its lowest and there is an increased risk of infection.…… then your body recovers in time for your next cycle….. but the more chemo you have the longer the recovery can take so by the end of treatment it could take a few months this to recover completely.
