recently diagnosed

Comer
Comer Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin) #1
I was recently diagnosed with non hodgkins. I am a 37 year old mother of three beautiful children with a very supportive husband. I am sending this out there to see if i can connect with anyone my age who has the same diagnosis and issues. i know so many people with cancer but none with non hodgkins. I start chemo next week in conjunction with ritoxin. i am in the process of reaching out to others to share their experiences with me. i have low grade lymphoma that was found by the lump on the right side of my face on the parotid gland. it has spread to the area above my collarbone and possibly my right pelvis but has not reached my vital organs or my bone marrow. i have absolutely no symptoms and feel fine. my doctor and i decided to not go for the wait and see approach but to start treating it immediately. Just wondering if anyone out there has any words of encouragement. i would like to be able to speak to a mom in my situation.

Comments

  • Plymouthean
    Plymouthean Member Posts: 262
    #2
    Hi. I was diagnosed in November, '06 with an isolated, low-grade lymphoma. It was located in my lower abdomen.
    I, too, was symptomless until September, '06, when I started having mild abdominal pain. The pain increased to about 4 on the "funny face scale".
    Putting this in perspective, - I am a five year (+) survivor of nsclc, and this small area showed up in scans over about three and a half years. It just sat there, doing nothing until last October, when it showed growth in a routine, scheduled PET scan. Again, it was isolated to one lymph node, plus a 10% involvement in my bone marrow. I've had four (of a scheduled 8) chemo treatments, and after the third, another PET scan showed the lymphoma was gone.
    This news of quick remission is significant, because if the lymphoma goes into remission quickly, it is less likely to recur, and if it does recur, it will take longer to recur.
  • Plymouthean
    Plymouthean Member Posts: 262
    #3
    Plymouthean said:

    Hi. I was diagnosed in November, '06 with an isolated, low-grade lymphoma. It was located in my lower abdomen.
    I, too, was symptomless until September, '06, when I started having mild abdominal pain. The pain increased to about 4 on the "funny face scale".
    Putting this in perspective, - I am a five year (+) survivor of nsclc, and this small area showed up in scans over about three and a half years. It just sat there, doing nothing until last October, when it showed growth in a routine, scheduled PET scan. Again, it was isolated to one lymph node, plus a 10% involvement in my bone marrow. I've had four (of a scheduled 8) chemo treatments, and after the third, another PET scan showed the lymphoma was gone.
    This news of quick remission is significant, because if the lymphoma goes into remission quickly, it is less likely to recur, and if it does recur, it will take longer to recur.

    In addition to the above:
    My chemo consists of Rituxan, Vinchristine, and another med, the name of which slips my mind right now, administered once every three weeks, over four hours. The first treatment lasts about an hour longer, due to the introduction of the Rituxan into your body. After that, the treatment duration becomes shorter.
    I have had no appreciable side effects, so far, with the exception of mild fatigue. There is, so far, no comparison the the aggressive chemo/radiation which I received for nsclc.
  • Godschild56
    Godschild56 Member Posts: 1
    #4
    You have so many ++ on your side. being so early diagnosed, not in bones, young, low agressive; I had nodes in neck, breast, colon everywhere with mass in abdomen, liver pancreas & spleen. you will come through this well. your doctor will give you a script for nausea in case you need it from chemo. having children is stressful, but try to find some alone quiet time each day doing something for yourself. Ask for help from others to relieve stress. Get all the rest you can; your body is healing. Let the little things go.
  • tig2199
    tig2199 Member Posts: 4
    #5
    the only thing i can tell you is that i had the same thing when i was 25 the most important thing is for you to eat. nothing is going to tast good or you won't be real hungry but you need to make your self eat not alot but eat good food when i was being treated i stayed very healthy during the hole process. i just made my self eat good food and got lots of rest i see you said that you have 3 kids and i don't know how old they are but hopfully they are able to do things to help out. like i say get lots of rest and make your self eat good foods
  • hischosen
    hischosen Member Posts: 2
    #6
    I was recently diagnosed as well. I will probably begin CHOP R chemo treatment within the next 2 weeks. I am 34, have no kids, but have felt so alone in this. I am glad to know that you will be out there fighting this battle too. I will be pulling for you in spirit!
  • lyn33872
    lyn33872 Member Posts: 7
    #7
    My prayers are that you are doing well. My daughter had NHL at age 17. Her only symptom was pain when she took a deep breath and the x-ray showed a 9 cm mass in her chest. It had not spread anywhere else and she had a full year of chemo tx every 3 weeks. She is now six years cancer free with signs of recurrance. Her last scan over a year ago showed that even the scar tissue was gone. Hang in there!
  • lyn33872
    lyn33872 Member Posts: 7
    #8
    lyn33872 said:

    My prayers are that you are doing well. My daughter had NHL at age 17. Her only symptom was pain when she took a deep breath and the x-ray showed a 9 cm mass in her chest. It had not spread anywhere else and she had a full year of chemo tx every 3 weeks. She is now six years cancer free with signs of recurrance. Her last scan over a year ago showed that even the scar tissue was gone. Hang in there!

    Sorry.....make that without signs of recurrence
  • medic890
    medic890 Member Posts: 1
    #9
    I was diagnosed with stage 3 large t-cell nhl in 1995. wow 12 years ago. At the time I was preparing to get married then NHL happened. I have had 3 beautiful kids since even though most Docs said I probably would'nt. Anyway my advice is simple get plenty of rest and eat healthy. The most important though is keeping a positive additude and fighting. Good luck
  • tig2199
    tig2199 Member Posts: 4
    #10
    hischosen said:

    I was recently diagnosed as well. I will probably begin CHOP R chemo treatment within the next 2 weeks. I am 34, have no kids, but have felt so alone in this. I am glad to know that you will be out there fighting this battle too. I will be pulling for you in spirit!

    i went thought the holething so if you need some one to talk to or ask questions please feel free to contact me i will help in any way i can hope things are ok tig2199
  • Dodgie62
    Dodgie62 Member Posts: 6
    #11
    Hi Comer, Any update?? I have been praying for your health to return quickly for several months. I have been cancer free for 4 months [I had Large B cell NHL-stage 1]...=:O)...Peace...B
  • dfinne
    dfinne Member Posts: 4
    #12
    Hi Comer, just wondering how life is going for you now. I too had a lump on my perotid gland. Gland was removed and pathology results came back follicular lymphoma. I am still waiting to get in to oncologist. Just got diagnosis 3 days ago. I am 43 year old mother of two beautiful daughters, 21 and 16 and I have the most spectacular husband!!
  • Miahsmommy
    Miahsmommy Member Posts: 3
    #13
    Dodgie62 said:

    Hi Comer, Any update?? I have been praying for your health to return quickly for several months. I have been cancer free for 4 months [I had Large B cell NHL-stage 1]...=:O)...Peace...B

    Hi. I do not have cancer, but my father who is 54 years old was dx with NHL stage 1 diffuse B cell I believe last year when he was 53. He went through about 6 or 8 rounds of chemo and got the rituxin shot each time. He immediately went into remission as well. His last pet scan came back completely clean and from now on his oncologist said that he just has to get a ct scan every 3 months. Lately, my father has seemed different. My mom and I talked and she told me that my father is very afraid that the cancer is going to come back, or be found all over his body. He is afraid that he will only live at the most 5 more years. He is afraid that he will not get to see my 14 month old daughter grow up. Hearing that about my father made me very upset. I am very close to both my parents and am in no way ready for either of them to leave me. It scares me to know my dad is thinking that way. Do you ever have these fears?
  • pniro
    pniro Member Posts: 43
    #14
    dfinne said:

    Hi Comer, just wondering how life is going for you now. I too had a lump on my perotid gland. Gland was removed and pathology results came back follicular lymphoma. I am still waiting to get in to oncologist. Just got diagnosis 3 days ago. I am 43 year old mother of two beautiful daughters, 21 and 16 and I have the most spectacular husband!!

    Hi dfinne,

    My mother recently had her parotid gland removed because she had a lump behind her ear for quite sometime that all doctors dismissed. When they took it out it was a lymph node that was metastatic cancer. They thought her primary cancer was in the parotid. the pathogy of the parotid showed it was a secondary cancer...a follow up Ct scan of chest and abdomen showed everything clean, how were you finally diagnosed? They can not seem to find the primary source of her cancer and I keep thinking some sort of lymphoma. I hope you are handling your treatment ok...I am sure you are going to get through this just fine for your daughters.

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