Hi I’m a 63 year old woman who until a month ago was completely well active and working. I had been having night sweats for a few weeks and then went to the GP with chronic indigestion. I also noted a lump in my neck. GP was amazing very thorough I had an X-ray and bloods immediately, X-ray showed a mass at the front of my chest bloods showed over active thyroid. I was booked for a CT Scan and Gastroscopy and beforehand saw the Head and Neck specialist who has informed me the CT scan showed my organs were all normal, the problem was all my lymph nodes were enlarged pressing on my chest , abdomen and other organs. I’ve been referred to the Haematologist and having an ultrasound and biopsy next week. Total shock.
Hi again Ice cream girl and welcome across to this corner of the Community.
As i said in your post in the New to Community area I have been on my journey for over 25 years with 2 rare types of Non Hodgkin's Lymphomas.
Yes this will be a total shock but good on your GP in acting promptly..... lots of folks have to fight to get where you are at the moment.
The fact that you have yet to see a Hematologist and no biopsies have been done yet suggests that Lymphoma has not actually been officially confirmed yet?.......
It needs a biopsy to do this.... and PET or CT scan to stage you but keep in mind that in Lymphoma Staging is rather different from sold tumour cancers like Kidney, Lung, Breast….. where a high stage number like stage 4 is a poor prognosis, in Lymphoma it’s not. I was stage 4a back in 2013 and it made no difference to my outcomes.
Staging in Lymphomas identifies…..
1) Where the Lymphoma is presenting in the body (it can be anywhere)
2) What is the best treatment approach and best treatment type for your presentation
3) How long your treatment needs to be.
The Diagnosis of Lymphoma is not that straightforward as there are over 60 types and sub-types of Lymphoma...... so if you are officially diagnosed with Lymphoma you may not be in the right group as Lymphomas are treated in different ways....
But for the meantime stick with this discussion thread until everything is clearer.
Your Symptoms do indeed line-up with Lymphoma....... but back in 1999 all I had was a small developing rash on my back...... this is how different Lymphomas can be.
But as an encouragement when I was first diagnosed back in 1999 our daughters were 14 and 18…… I continued to work for 12 years in a demanding teaching job and yes had various treatments over these first 14 years then in late 2013 my second rare NHL came along taking me to stage 4……. but this was still all very treatable.
But we went on to see our daughters graduate, get married, set up very successful businesses and provide us with 4 beautiful granddaughters….. I turn 70 at the end of this year and as a family we celebrated 9+ years since my last treatment.
I am living a great life and we continue to look forward to what else life has in store first us to enjoy…….. this can be done.
Any questions just ask ((hugs))
