confused by biopsy results.

ang.

hi my name is angie, my husband has been told that he probley has non hodgkins lymphoma. he  has this tumor growing on the side of his neck. its huge. now the other side has one growing. he went to an ent they did a niddle biopsy it showed lymphoma. we went to the oncoligist he had a pet scan ordered and another biopsy. so now he has had a ct scan done and apet scan done.the two biopsys done that came back normal. the pet scan showed the cancer though .  we are so confused!! all his symptoms lead to lymphoma. does anyone have any info at all about what might be going on with him? 

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

Slightly confused

Ang,

Sorry about the current scare with your husband.  I am a little confused also about some of what you wrote. You state that a needle biopsy showed lymphoma, but then state that "two biopsies were negative." Did he have three biopsies ?

A PET scan is usually very valuable in sorting this all out,, in that it will show very rapidly growing cells in a different color from normal tissue. IF the PET did indicate cancer-like growth (they call it "hypermetabolic activity"), and IF he did have a biopsy that showedf NHL, then it sounds extremely likely that he does in fact have some l;ymphoma going on.

Make the onciologist interpret and explain all of this . Demand a consultation/ sit-down meeting, and let him make sense of it.  Ask questions until you understand the answers. Take a relative or friend along (like an RN) who has some medical training, if you have such a person available. They may be able to assist you in recalling things later, since the medical verbage can be overwhelming for many people.

Whatever his neck tumors are, I would be demanding clear answers from the people who ran the tests.  Good luck with all of this,

max