Hello,
I feel slightly guilty for posting a question about a lesser issue compared with most on this forum, but I'd be grateful for any reactions. I'm 60 in a couple of months and have recently been diagnosed with low grade B Cell NHL, probably follicular or marginal zone. This was a major downer as in 2015 I had throat cancer (treated with combined chemo- and heavy duty radiotherapy). That was a tough ride but after 5 years you are pretty much considered to be in remission and the NHS doesn't follow you up any more, so it was obviously pretty devastating to be diagnosed with another cancer just as I thought I could leave this disease behind for a while! That's the bad news. The better news seems to be that, after the removal of an offending lymph node in the groin, neither the PET scan nor the bone marrow biopsy have shown up anything else. This puts me at stage 1 and I don't really have any major symptoms, so apparently that even puts me at stage 1A. My consultant said I could have radiotherapy to the groin, which would likely reduce - but not massively - the chances of a relapse. He also said - and this astonished me and I find it hard to believe - that the diagnosis does not have a major impact on my life expectancy.
So the questions I am grappling with right now are:
a) is radiotherapy a good idea in my circumstances? I am minded to go for it because it is relatively low-level (nothing compared to the radio I had six years ago and in a much less sensitive area), I am not scared by it and I feel it increases the chances of avoiding or at least delaying relapse. Of course, there will be side effects, but other than this I am in pretty good health and regularly run 7-10km for example.
b) "Not have a major effect on my life expectancy"?? On what grounds does my consultant say this? How can it be true? I mean he seems highly competent and very empathetic, but obviously he can't sit around all day answering every detailed question that crops in my mind. Maybe it's just my past experience making me pessimistic (or maybe I'm just a pessimist!) but I feel this is too optimistic to be true.
If anyone has any thoughts or reactions, I'd be grateful.
Again sorry if this seems trivial. My prognosis in 2015 was much worse, so maybe that is what is making me so cautious this time around! Many thanks!
David
Hi again David Cymru123 when it comes to cancer not questions are trivial.
a) is radiotherapy a good idea in my circumstances?
I honestly have no idea….. I have had 45 zaps of Radiotherapy over my years but these were never an option - more a “you will be having these” but if doing it fends off a relapse then most likely yes.
b) "Not have a major effect on my life expectancy"??
Now this is the crystal ball thing and your consultant could well be spot on based on other patents they have treated in the past……….or not as they can see the future.
My answers are not much use, let’s see if someone was in the exact same position can bring first hand experience.
Hi David Cymru123….. good to hear that you have sorted out the question about the radiotherapy.
I had my second Stem Cell Transplant in Oct 2015 then was eventually discharged by my Heamatology/SCT Department in Sep 2018….. with the parting words “Mike…. we fully hope that you will die from old age and natural causes and your NHL stays a sleep as we have given it a rather strong sleeping pill’
