I dont belive it, can anyone throw any light on it please.

susiemitch

Hi my name is Sue.
In Jan my 40 year old husband started having night sweats. They got so bad that after a few weeks we went to the doctors and were sent to see a consultant. He sent him for an ultra sound scan. Half way through the scan they stopped it and said he needed a CT scan. This was done on his gallbladder. we went back to see the doctor and were told he had sludge in his gallbladder and they would remove it. He was checked for tb which was ruled out. When bloods were removed for testing a massive yellow bruise appeared on his arm which we blamed the tecnician's method for this

He had the op in March to remove the gallbladder. The night sweats carried on. he also started having breathing difficulties, these would come on for no apparent reason, they were not unlike the symptons for asthma, our GP gave him an inhaler, The next thing was an itching all over his throat, again we put this down to the asthma or maybe hayfever

Six weeks ago a lump appeared in the middle at the bottom of his back, the doctor said it was a cyst. He then started to get very tired and lathargic and lost his appetite. Next he started with tummy pains around the site where the gallblader was removed from his lower back also started to give him a lot of pain.

Last weekend he was very tired and not well at all, the night sweats were bad although he does not get these every night. On Monday a tiny red spot appeared in his chin, it started to bleed and we could not stop it, it bled so much and for over a hour, we just thought we had stopped it and it started again. The other strage thing is his temperature, he is hot one minute and cold the next, this has only come on in the last couple of weeks. On Tuesday we decied it was time to sort this out once and for all.

We made a appointment with the GP. She examanined him and said his liver was very enlarged, she also examanined his back when she touched his left side he nearly shot through the roof it was painful. She checked him for swollen gland but did not say if she found any. She said she was very concerned and made us an appointment for Thursday with a specialist.

We arrived for the apponitment, the doctor gave him a full exaimation, and took all his history, he then told us that he thought is was Lymphoma, we were so shocked. He had bloods taken and full CT scan is booked for monday, the doctor said this will not show Lymphoma but will show any swollon glands and point them in the direction of which gland to take a biopsy from.

What I am finding hard to belive is that this could have been missed in March when they operated on him to remove his gallblader. Also how can the doctor come to this diagnosis by just examination and history. Can any one throw any light on this, we are both in total shock and just want the weekend over. What happens now? how is Lymphoma diagnosed? with the info we have is it possible to identify if it could be hodgkins or non hodgkins or the level/stage of the disease or is this determined from tissue samples. If any one has any answers I would be very gratfull.
Sue
_________________
Sue

ChemoMan

Hi susiemitch
Sorry to hear about your husband, he sounded pretty bad there. It is hard to answer your questions without knowing what type of lymphoma it is and how it is staged. If you want some info you can go here http://www.lymphomainfo.net/lymphoma.html
Its an easy to read site and also provides links for further information. Unfortunately I can't really offer anything with this little information, but I can say that Lymphoma is treatable and curable these days so don't panic.
If you require more help post back when you get some news. By the way a long delay between symptoms starting and diagnosis is very common.

Good luck and all the best
_________________
Age 52
Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma
Stage 2a
Finished six cycles of R chop 21 26th May 2008
Officially in remission 9th July 2008
Remission confirmed 1st October 2008
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=9620

ilovecoffee · New User Joined: 05 Sep 2008 Posts: 5

Hi Sue.

{Link deleted by admin}

I can imagine what a hard time you and your husband have been through. But I do believe you are finally seeing some clarity.

Honestly, most cancer's come out of nowhere - when your least expecting it. The love of my life was diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma last year, and i believed he was in perfect health.

Life throws you curveballs sometimes. But getting as much information as you can, exactly what you are doing now, is a good place to start.

I'm not sure how diagnosis is done exactly, but a biopsy is the first step. Its they can't figure much out with the biopsy, they'll do a minor surgery, extracting a larger tissue mass. The type of cancer, the stage and the chances of metastatis (spread of cancer) are found out.

Treatment is planned next. Depending on whether cancer is local or metstatic is often what decides treatment plans. Surgery and radiotherapy if the cancer hasn't spread. If it has, the chemotherapy - a systemic treatment is almost always the course of action.

For your husband start being cautious about eating habits and lifestyle- i would IMMEDIATELY make him cut out red meat. Its been highly correlated with many cancers. Green tea is said to be amazing, as its rich in anti-oxidants. Make sure he cuts out smoking completely, and limits alcohol intake.

I hope this helps.
Best wishes.

	Cancer Forums Forum Index -> Lymphoma - Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Forum	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

A website for discussions about any type of cancer, including lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, prostate cancer, laryngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and others