Still waiting

LacieAnn728

is it possible to relapse from classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma so quickly after chemo finished if I had such good scans within 2 cycles the cancer was gone. I’m so worried about my scans since a ct showed a slight increase of the lymph nod in my chest. Just wondering if anyone else relapse that quickly after chemo!!??

kdunagin

I don't think you have a relapse

LacieAnn,

As much as I know, Hodgkin's Lymphoma is easy to cure. My dad had it many, many years ago. That was in the 70s. He discovered a swollen lymph node in his armpit himself, but did not do anything about it because, at that time, he was very busy working on his board certification in Orthopedic Surgery. By the time he had a surgery and found out that it was cancer, it already progressed to stage III. Even that, and even before all the medical advancements after that, he was still completely cured and never had any relapse. 

po18guy

Not so much with Hodgkin's

Certain non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas are known to - expected to - relapse. My primary lymphoma relapsed immediately, and went on to mutate into two separate sub-types at the second relapse. Hodgkin's? Possible but not all that likely. There is scar tissue forming as we speak, and necrotic tisue also shows up. One not so comforting fact is that hte threshhold of detectin of cancer cells is something on the order of one million cells. Below that, it drops off the radar. 

Your questuon is whether or not what you are seeing is a relapse, or just the after-effects of treatment and your body's response. Sadly, that takes time to determine. This probably does not help all that much, but at any point during my cancer journey, I would have greatly preferred to be in your shoes.

kdunagin

scar tissue

Yes, scar tissue like po mentioned. I had non-hodgkin's lymphoma. It's at the base of the skull. I had gone through a fine needle aspiration biopsy and then a partial biopsy. A scar tissue formed right after the second biopsy and it showed up on all CT scans I had after that. Could the slight increase of the lymph node you mentioned be a combination of the node that was left and the scar tissue? I can feel it on mine even now. When I had a partial biopsy, there was a small section of that node left. When scar tissue formed, it makes that nodes feel a little larger. The only difference is when it was cancer, it was very hard. Now it's kind of spongy.

LacieAnn728

Has anyone had a pet scan

Has anyone had a pet scan done show low activity and still be relapse??? My pet scan show border line activity and now I need a biopsy again!!