Hi All,
My husband has been in severe pain in his stomach for 9 weeks now, coupled with consistent nausea, hot flushes and some weight loss.
Doctors have ruled out everything they can think of (including taking his appendix out despite the pain being on the left), except cancers.
The last time he was in an ER they found an inflamed and necrotic aorticaval lymph node. They keep telling us that it is just from the appendectomy but considering there was nothing wrong with his appendix in the first place (confirmed by the pathology after removal) I don't think that is the case. I asked them today if it could be NHL and the doctor just said to me that "the bloods that have been done over the last 9 weeks have all been normal so it can't be that", they just keep saying "I highly doubt it is that", but like if it isn't anything else then doesn't it make sense to biopsy the freaking lymph node??? I know it's in a shit of a spot but I feel like that isn't any reason to leave him undiagnosed. All of my research indicates that you NEED a biopsy to be sure, but can you have completely normal bloods?
PS. He also spent at least 3 years consistently sick because of undiagnosed hypothyroidism which I would say is a risk factor.
(They have ruled out appendix, masses in the bowel, diverticular disease, diverticulitis, autoimmune diseases)
TIA
Hi and welcome to our corner of the Community but sorry you need to find us.
You are basically correct, the main diagnosis route for most types of Lymphomas would be a ENT referral for an Ultrasound, but a CT/PET scan are the best to show any areas of growth then an incision biopsy of these areas and then the pathology will show if it's a type of Lymphoma, what type and help to stage the Lymphoma, sometimes a Bone Marrow Biopsy is required then a referral to a Haematologist for further discussions and treatment if required...... see this LINK to Lymphoma Action
Bloods can show some markers that can direct the need for more investigations and some blood cancers can show up in blood tests....... but in my 20 years living with NHL my bloods never did show clear markers that would have directed investigations for my type of Lymphoma.
Some types of NHL are difficult to diagnose so you just need to keep pushing the doors to get answers.
Always around to help.
Has your husband had a CT scan at any time during this?
