TV Personality Dies Rapidly of Undiagnosed NHL

ShadyGuy said:

Maybe he was lucky

Mine is killing me slowly. I had a relative (15 year old boy) who was diagnosed with pneumonia (1981), treated with antibiotics for several weeks and then died rather quickly. Turned out to be cancer. Ewings sarcoma. The mechanics of how NHL kills a patient can come in many forms. I believe breathing issues and heart congestion are the most frequent ways it does its dirty deed. Liver and pancreas intrusion are also quite common. I asked my doctor and he dodged the question. You know - a nervous laugh - kinda like the reaction of some weight conscious people when the waitress says "anybody save room for dessert?"

I agree, Shady, that the "method or death" is often not clear, I guess because, as you note, most are different.  My oncologist never got onto the subject with me, likely because he never regarded me as terminal.  One way many go is similiar to leukemia, in which the blood chemistry simply becomes too abnormal to support metabolism, respiration, etc.     But what I have read most ofteb is that tumors affect critical organs to the point that they fail.   This is similiar to what happened to me:  nodes were pressing so hard on the wall of my heart that the ER thought I was in unstable angina, or 'having a heart attack.'  If it had been much worse, I would have died then.  While the subject is not a pleasant one, I was interested to learn that most AIDS patients essentially die of advanced lymphoma.  When a surgeon first looked at my diagnostic CT, he said "without a biopsy, I can say that you either have advanced lymphoma, or are about to die of AIDS."   I replied that it must be lymphoma, since I was not in a risk category for AIDS. 

The point of the post was that lymphoma is frequently not diagnosed until very late, or not at all, as in this fellow's case.  Most shared information here is "not pleasant," like the disease itself.  But information is useful and critical, and stories of success (of which we have many) inspire hope and calm.

Remember: "Do not let an ENT antibiotic you to death."