Is he going to die

Karen66
Karen66 Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin) #1
I need all the help I can get for my boyfriend. Our wedding plans have been put on hold due to the B Cell NHL. He had 4 sessions of CHOP and then all of a sudden he has gotten a Staph infection. This has put him in the hospital and now we find out he has 20 nodules in his chest. I dread the biopsy which is tommarrow.Hhe was in stage 4 before starting chemo . I do not know when he will get out of the hospital and I have been trying to get as much informtion as possible on what to do. They have told me that the prognosis will be grim if it is the lymphoma. He has been quite angry from the begining and now he has been almost intolerable. I guess that a bone marrow transplant will be our next step along with heavy radation. Someone help me to understand what I can say to help I am at a loss and need direction. I am afraid he will just give up and I do not want to loose him how selfish is that.
Help

Karen

Comments

  • AuthorUnknown
    AuthorUnknown Member Posts: 1,537 Member
    #2
    Hello,

    You may want to contact the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center. Cancer Information Specialists are available 24 hours a day and can assist you with your questions and provide resources. They can be reached at 1-800-227-2345 or by clicking on the "Contact ACS" link at the top of the page. I wish you and your boyfriend the best.

    Take care and be well,

    Dana
    CSN Dana
  • peenie
    peenie Member Posts: 2
    #3
    Hi Karen: In September, 2001 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I was the Queen of Denial. The doctors were not very encouraging and when I got on web sites and read the statistics I rushed to the attorney and had my "living will" made out and put my affairs in order. First I had CHOPS and I was sicker than a dog. My hair fell out within 3 weeks. I got mouth sores, low blood count, constipation that would hospitalize me, and eventually shingles. After CHOPS I got Rituxin. I am much much older than your boyfriend and yet I KNOW how scared and angry he must feel. Here is the KEY to survival! Get RID of the negativity around you.
    Try not to touch door knobs, grocery carts, anything that might have germs, because he has NO
    IMMUNE system. Have him wash his hands constantly and you should do the same before even touching him. Winter is a very germy time anyway. It I had seriously listened to what the doctors were telling me and all the sympathy from well meaning friends who thought they were coming to say "farewell", I would not be alive and WELL 4 years later. I am fine, I'm better than FINE - no sign of cancer and I am a survivor. NO PITY PARTIES - no one ever comes.
    Tell him how sexy he is with No Hair. Make plans
    for next Spring. DO NOT let those negative monsters creep into you head in the middle of the night! Tell him to pretend that the chemo
    is his friendly little helpers, in there "chomping away" old Black Bart (the cancer), and invision that happening. I wish someone had told me these things when I was sick.
    All I heard was a lot of sad, sad stories. The survivors are too busy living - you hardly ever hear from them. He's going to be FINE - you believe that! G
  • jlamana
    jlamana Member Posts: 1
    #4
    Karen, I was stage 4 Non Hodgkins Large B Cell Lymphpoma. I found out after my arm broke on its oown in May of 2004. I went through six cycles of CHOP / Rituxin. I was hospitalized 7 times with staph infection in my Hickman until ultimately they pulled the Hickmanafter treating witih IV Vancomiacin at home. I got through the broken arm and after my catscans came clear in Oct. I resumed my life but in April 2005 after moving in with my then fiancee, I started having back pain. It got worse and chiropractic didnt help. Ultimately I got a catscan and one large nodule had grown about the size of a small nerf football in my right pelvis which was hitting my sciatic nerve in my back and causing uncontrolable pain. It also chipped off part of my tailbone as well as was impressing in on my colon and bladder. They started me on two treatments of ESHAP chemotherapy with the plan of going through an self stem cell transplant. I told the doctors no matter what I was not missing my wedding so I put treatment on hold for one month, something i woouldnt recommend but I wanted to marry the woman I love. Alot of the pain came back. After the wedding/honeymooon. I am in the transplant mobilization stage right now. Last week I finished 48 hours of etoposide and cytoxin chemo along with getting a new hickman in me. They also controlled my pain with a PCA Morophine pump and a steroid via IV. Right now my WBC's are .01 and I am neutropenic and on daily shots of neupogen and getting my bloodwork checked. Tomorrow im going in to recieve some blood or platelets at the clinic. Next week they harvest my own stem cells and freeze them and in a few weeks my transplant will begin. 8 days of chemo (not straight through). On the 9th day I get my stem cells transplanted back and then its around 10-14 recovery time all in patient. I've heard and read alot of good things about this. I am a patient of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. (Chocolate town!) I know what your concerned aboout and i know everything running through your mind. Its happened with my wife and I. Be strong for him. There is help out there. I hope some of my information of what i've been through, or am going through now can help. The holidays will be tought for me as i'll be in the hospital for them but its the best gift I can give my family. Ihope some of my information can help you. It may be something you can ask about.
  • chiobecky
    chiobecky Member Posts: 1
    #5
    peenie said:

    Hi Karen: In September, 2001 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I was the Queen of Denial. The doctors were not very encouraging and when I got on web sites and read the statistics I rushed to the attorney and had my "living will" made out and put my affairs in order. First I had CHOPS and I was sicker than a dog. My hair fell out within 3 weeks. I got mouth sores, low blood count, constipation that would hospitalize me, and eventually shingles. After CHOPS I got Rituxin. I am much much older than your boyfriend and yet I KNOW how scared and angry he must feel. Here is the KEY to survival! Get RID of the negativity around you.
    Try not to touch door knobs, grocery carts, anything that might have germs, because he has NO
    IMMUNE system. Have him wash his hands constantly and you should do the same before even touching him. Winter is a very germy time anyway. It I had seriously listened to what the doctors were telling me and all the sympathy from well meaning friends who thought they were coming to say "farewell", I would not be alive and WELL 4 years later. I am fine, I'm better than FINE - no sign of cancer and I am a survivor. NO PITY PARTIES - no one ever comes.
    Tell him how sexy he is with No Hair. Make plans
    for next Spring. DO NOT let those negative monsters creep into you head in the middle of the night! Tell him to pretend that the chemo
    is his friendly little helpers, in there "chomping away" old Black Bart (the cancer), and invision that happening. I wish someone had told me these things when I was sick.
    All I heard was a lot of sad, sad stories. The survivors are too busy living - you hardly ever hear from them. He's going to be FINE - you believe that! G

    I just wanted to agree with you on one of the points you made. My husband was diagonsed with Non-Hodgkins in February of 2004. We were just newly-weds so it was a very trying time for us both. But during some of the long hours at chemo, we talked about all of the things we were going to do when we were all done with the treatments. I would write them down in a notebook, and now over a year later we are still working on doing things from the list. As each item gets checked off, it puts the treatments farther behind us.

    Basically, ditto on putting those negative monsters in the closet where they belong and focusing on future fun!
  • MsMM
    MsMM Member Posts: 3
    #6
    NHL can be beaten. Visit moonmaidenmedicine.com and see how to help the body fight and resist the growth of cancer.

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