Anyone else going through something like this?
I did like doc but I'm even confused on staging...He said it was one lymph node so it would be stage I but it was in my bone marrow so that means stage IV and said I would quite possibly never need to be treated. So I have no idea what my stage is. He also seemed to indicate that 5% marrow involvement was nothing at all to be concerned with.
Help if you can...thanks!
Comments
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Lymphoma is different
Blood cancers (leukemia/lymphoma) are staged differently from other cancers. Yes, a single area of involvement is stage I, and involvement in another organ raises it to stage IV, but it appears that SLL/CLL can either originate in the marrow and then spread to other organs, or the reverse may be true. So, marrow involvement may not be the serious sign that it is with some other cancers. It is an indolent, or slow growing, cancer, and you may have lived with it now for years. Treatment may or may not be needed for some time. However, I would strongly recommend that you obtain a second opinion from a doctor at a large, regional cancer center - one with extensive experience. A second opinion can back up both diagnosis and treatment, or can possibly correct something that might have been missed by the first doctor or pathologist. BTW, there are a lot of us that began at stage IV and are doing just fine.0 -
Thank you so much for yourpo18guy said:Lymphoma is different
Blood cancers (leukemia/lymphoma) are staged differently from other cancers. Yes, a single area of involvement is stage I, and involvement in another organ raises it to stage IV, but it appears that SLL/CLL can either originate in the marrow and then spread to other organs, or the reverse may be true. So, marrow involvement may not be the serious sign that it is with some other cancers. It is an indolent, or slow growing, cancer, and you may have lived with it now for years. Treatment may or may not be needed for some time. However, I would strongly recommend that you obtain a second opinion from a doctor at a large, regional cancer center - one with extensive experience. A second opinion can back up both diagnosis and treatment, or can possibly correct something that might have been missed by the first doctor or pathologist. BTW, there are a lot of us that began at stage IV and are doing just fine.
Thank you so much for your response. The doctor I am seeing is at a large cancer center in Pittsburgh (Hillman Cancer Center). Best of luck to you.0 -
The web has much infoMCR1967 said:Thank you so much for your
Thank you so much for your response. The doctor I am seeing is at a large cancer center in Pittsburgh (Hillman Cancer Center). Best of luck to you.
Thank you! The web will have an almost undigestible amount of information. However, one can glean sufficient information from available sources to be reasonably well informed on options. It is good that you are at a large center. Yet, CLL/SLL is rare enough that I would not rule out consulting with a second oncologist. Just something to ponder.0
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