Anyone with first hand experience with lymphoma?

[Antonia]

DDIL had a CT scan that shows possible lymphoma. She has enlarged lymph nodes on both sides of her neck and a mass in her chest. Her sed rate is way elevated too.

She had a biopsy today. May be Friday when we hear from it. It is highly suspected to be lymphoma.

Anyone on the DIS have firsthand experience with lymphoma and treatment for it. DDIL and DS have a 3-month old and a two year old. Wondering how many weeks/months treatment lasts and how bad is it? I already know it could be a combination of radiation and chemotherapy.

We have a WDW trip planned for the end of September and DDIL says she is going with or without cancer. Seems it doesn't really matter when our ADRs etc. are anymore. Just hope our DDIL is healthy again!

 

[mickeyboat]

Oh my. No advice, just hugs.

 

[dzorn]

Wait and see what the results are. Treatment will depend on type, location, stage of progression.

My brother had non-hodkins lymphoma type B.

I pray you have good news.

Denise in MI

 

[Antonia]

I am so concerned for my little grandchildren. I'm a hands on Nana, but I do want their mama well and soon. By the looks of the CT scan, we are expecting it to be a form of cancer. She is 26 years old and so is DS.

 

[krcit]

Prayers for your DIL

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Prayers for your DDIL and your whole family.

 

[lemondog]

My aunt is battling non-Hodgkins right now. They think it was caught early, she is going thru radiation and chemo although I honestly don't know how long her treatment will last.

A friend from church has been cancer-free for 5+ years now after successful chemo/radiation for her lymphoma. She has also had 2 more children.

My neighbor is 2+ years free after a stem cell transplant to treat her lymphoma. It was a rough road for her...she was in the hospital 2+ months for the transplant, but in the end it was all worth it. Here is a link to her blog where she chronicles her journey, if you are interested: http://ahh-life.blogspot.com/ Keep in mind she had a very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma...

 

[disney1990]

My 8 year old granddaughter had non-Hodgkins lymphoma (4 years ago). She was treated aggressively with chemo and there is no sign of the cancer at this point in her life - she is 12. The positive is, her Mom (my daughter) went back to school and became a nurse after her daughter recovered. She has been a nurse since this past January.

 

[golfgal]

A good friend of our's had non-Hodgkins. He first underwent chemo and did very well with that, when into remission but found cancer again about 6 months later. Had another round of chemo, did an at the time experimental radiation where they put a patch right on the cancer that emits radiation, and they also did a bone marrow transplant-used his own bone marrow stem cells. He had that done the first week of June, was golfing with us by the 4th of July. This was 10 years ago and he has been cancer free since. He did his treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Mn.

 

[keypooh90]

No experience here, but just wanted to send prayers to you and your DDIL!

 

[scootch]

My sil had those exact same symptoms and the biopsy turned out to be sarcoidosis. I hope you get good news, prayers for you.

 

[SandrA9810]

I know of three people that had it. 2 died of non-hodgkins lymphoma and 1 is in remission of hodgkins lymphoma.

NHL is more deadly than HL, so once you know which one, you can take action from there.

One of the NHL people I knew, he was a father of two little kids, girl 6yrs old and a boy about 3 yrs old (well about those ages). He had a very very long struggle with it. I spent a week with them, getting them into Disney a short while before he got diagnosed with it.

The other was the mother of my friend. I'm not sure how long she fought hers for.

 

[Antonia]

The oncologist said to hope for Hodgkins lymphoma because it had a very good cure rate compared to NH lymphoma. I need to do a little research on sarcoidosis in case it turns out to be that.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Wishing your dd all the best

Candy 30 on the breast cancer thread has lymphoma, I am sure she could answer any questions you have if you pm'ed her etc

They actually thought I had lymphoma as my lymph nodes were swollen and the ct scan looked like a chest mass but 5 biopsies later , 2 they kept thinking it was lymphoma but mine turned out to be a rare and agressive form of thyroid cancer.

I had 7 surgeries starting in Jan 2009, 3 of those were for the cancer, some rai radiation and it took me to December 2009 to get back to Disney. It was something I looked forward to. My dh had to push me in a wheelchair almost the whole time, but I was just happy to be there again. We cried alot when we saw the castle for sure. We also had buttons that said "Celebrating Life!".

You dil is blessed to have such a caring mil.

Keep us updated

 

[MiniGirl]

I am a 20+ year survivor of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I was diagnosed in May of 1988. My original course of treatment was to be 4 doses of chemo, 4 weeks of radiation, followed by 4 more doses of chemo. However, I reacted very well to the treatment, so the doctors went with 6 courses of chemo and no radiation. They were 3 weeks apart and each dose was administered over 3 days. My hair fell out about 2 weeks after my first chemo. I did get extremely ill during every other chemo treatment. (I was at a research hospital and they alternated an old, proven chemo combo with a new one. The old one made me sick. The new one did not.) By about the 4th treatment, I was pretty weak. Couldn't walk too far without having to reat. Couldn't open jars, bottles, etc. However, except for the chemo treatments themselves, I didn;t feel too bad -- just weak. By Spring of 1989, my blood count had returned close enough to normal for me to go back to flying full time. I, however, decided to take it easy and fly a minimum schedule for another month or so.

Of course, this was many years ago, so I don;t know how much things have changed. Also, mine was aggressive, but isolated. In other words, I had this lump in my neck that was growing at a remarkable rate, but it hadn't spread to anywhere else. It was actually removed wholly during the biopsy. I also have a young friend who was diagnosed with lymphoma last year. (Hers was in her lungs.) She is also doing really well. She tolerated her treatments extremely well.

 

[ols386]

I know a woman who has lymphoma. She's had it for about 11 years. She went through chemo and radiation. She was in remission for awhile, and then a few years later, it came back. When it came back, she did not have any more treatments. I'm not sure if she refused to have anymore treatments or if she cannot have anymore chemo treatments.

She is still active and leading a very productive life. She and her husband run a B&B.

Best wishes for your DIL, op.

 

[scootch]

any update?