New to ABVD, how quickly do lymph nodes shrink?

Hi Helen and welcome to the Online Community but as you say not the best circumstances.

I am Mike Thehighlander and I am just dropping in past from the Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma forum to say hi.

Great that your growth is going down. So I had a different blood cancer with a different treatment but my brick sized growth on my neck started to reduce immediately and was completely gone after 3 cycles so that was about 6 weeks. The only signs of my growth is where my rather big biopsy was done.

Highlander ((hugs))

Hi Helen,

Mike has I hope reassured you, yes the nodes do go down substantially but HL has a habit of involving other cells around it which means you may be left with some scar tissue which may well resolve over time, so hopefully things will improve and continue to improve! 

Hugs xxx

Thank you for your replies, Mike Thehighlander and moomy, great to hear from you and I appreciate your support and advice.

Also interesting to hear about the scar tissue element, so maybe if they don't fully go it might end up being that. useful for peace of mind!

Helen x

Hi Helen

I was diagnosed at stage 2E in May and have just completed my 2nd cycle.

I had a large mediastinal mass (10x10ish by time I started treatment - I had to wait a while for my pregnancy to progress as far into the second trimester as possible) and swollen lymph nodes above left collar bone, in left armpit and a small swelling in the right of my neck. 

I found that after the 1st cycle the nodes in my armpit/neck had completely gone and the mass in my chest had dramatically reduced. I can now no longer feel it since completing 2nd cycle on the surface (it was beginning to resemble a third boob haha) and am awaiting a date for a PET scan after delivery of baby. Hoping that it has reduced just as much internally! Ie GONE FOR GOOD(!!) 

I saw the consultant whilst receiving 2a who had a feel and was very shocked at the speed they had disappeared.. I think she was expecting I would have them for another 1 or 2 treatments.

Do you see your consultant regularly? It may be worth just having a catch up, asking about scar tissue and asking whether they could have a feel etc as I found it very reassuring - especially as they have seen this multiple times etc

Hope this has helped and that you are managing well with treatments

Xx

• Hi bean...... I had stage 3s HL and had the standard 6 cycles if ABVD..... I was having day sweats, drenching night sweats and bad joint pain with mind but as most of cancer was in my chest stomach and spleen so I didn't have any raised glands ...... but after only a one treatment my symptoms started to stop and within 3 treatment I had no symptoms at all .... so yes I would say it's possible for the treatment to work very fast ..... regards scar tissue I had  large medinstinal masses and have quite a lot of scar tissue there now after treatment. 
• I am now nearly 4 months into remmison 

Darren 

Sorry for my late reply to this, hadn't logged in for a while! Not been able to see my consultant to get any reassurance, got my PET scan on Monday and can still feel one lymph node! Keep panicking about it, but I can't hide from the scan so will find out the truth next week.

That's a lot to deal with, being pregnant and having to cope with Hodgkins as well but it's great that they can work the treatment out around the pregnancy. All the best for the birth of your baby and your continuing treatment.

Helen x 

Thanks so much for your reply Darren and congratulations on your remission! I wish I knew what scar tissue was meant to feel like, but just can't seem to find any info online. I guess I just need to chill out and see what my scan says, but you know what the scanxiety is like...

All the best and I hope you're managing to get your life back to normal now.

Helen x 

Morning Helen 

Great news they are working around your pregnancy. Hope all that goes well for you. Hopefully today your consultant can answer whatever questions you have.... I find goggle isn't the best option for trying to find stuff out as it's of the just worse case on there. What I do know is ABVD is very effective at curing HL and you should be confident you can beat this. I agree wirh the anxiety it's a terrible thing and doesn't really go even when you have beat it .... i believe it's something we all learn to deal with in our own way. My recovery is going well now thank you ... I ran myself into the ground when I got the all clear ... didn't listen to my doctors to take it easy and tried to quickly to get back to normal .... but have now learnt and am taking it slow and am getting back to some normality. The effects of all of this will take a while to leave mentally and physically but I am grateful I am still here to experience those. 

All the best today and hope you get the results you need. 

As always there are a few of us around on here if you have any questions we will try to answer for you 

Darren x

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