Could it be lymphoma?

Honeychild · New User Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 8

Hello,

I am new to this forum. I was searching on the internet and I came across this site and decided to join. A short introduction of me Smile

I am 23 years old, female and a student. Since beginning of this year I have been noticing small lumps on my neck. 3 on the left side and 1 on the right side ( in between collar bone an neck ). I have had bloodwork done in July it came back fine (wbc was slightly elevated) but the doctor did not worry. Also no sign of any viral infection. Then I went to another doctor in September and als had bloodwork done and ultrasound of my neck. The bloodwork was fine again and they measured the lymph nodes and they were 0.3 cm so the doctor told me not to worry.
But now I have been experiencing night sweats for the last few weeks, I found a hard lump under my left armpit it hurts a bit when i touch it and also one behdind me left ear that's also hard and hurts a bit. I am getting bloodwork done again on monday and ultrasound under my armpit.
This is really worrying me. I don't know what to do or think. But I am trying to stay calm and put it off my mind till I have the result from the doctor again.
Anyone know what I may be facing here?
Thank you in advance. Smile

cinnamon · Regular Joined: 02 Nov 2009 Posts: 22

Well as everyone on her would tell you...first and foremost, do not panic. There are literally hundreds of reasons for lymph nodes to swell.

While night sweats are part of the symptons that go along with HL, there are other things that could be triggering this as well.

In my case, I had swollen nodes in the neck as well. That's how my whole process got started. However, the only way they knew for sure with my case, that I had Hodgkin's was when they whe in and took a lymph node out and sent it off for a biopsy. They had put me on antibiotics for 2-3 weeks to see if there was an infection of some type but when the antibiotics didn't work then they scheduled me for minor surgery to get a node for a biopsy.

Hang in there, do not panic, and keep a good attitude.

Welcome to the forum by the way and by all means, keep us updated!

Honeychild · New User Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 8

Thank you for the reply and the welcome.
I will definetly take your advice and not panic and just wait and see what happens, although it is very difficult to not keep thinking about it. If you don't mind me asking how did the lymph nodes in your neck felt like and did you had other symptomps? The ones in my neck feels painless, moveable but the one behind my ear and under my armpit feels really hard and they hurt. Other then the nightsweats I don't have any other symptomps. And also is it possible that something like lymphoma won't show in your blood count?
I will definetly keep everyone updated.

cinnamon · Regular Joined: 02 Nov 2009 Posts: 22

To be honest with you, none of the lymph nodes hurt at all and all were moveable, or at least more moveable than I thought they were. The doctor felt them and he thought they had plenty of mobility as to where I thought they were pretty well stationary. That's why it's important to let the doctor have a feel and see what their trained hands think it is.

As for a bloodcount, I really can't tell you since they took one my nodes and did the biopsy thing with it. As far as I know my blood work all came back fine. Or at least no one mentioned anything about it that I can remember.

I've had swollen nodes in the armpit before when I was much younger. In my 20's I think. However, they were atributed to something harmless at the time but I have no recall of what that was.

So again, while you are demonstrating some signs of lymphoma, it is certainly not time to panic just yet...just be concerned and aware and ask your doctor directly about.

Hope that helps. We'll be thinking good thoughts for you.

Honeychild · New User Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 8

Thank you very much for the reply and the information. I can't do much right now but wait and see for the results and hoping that everything is okay. I have an appointment on thursday with my doctor and see from there what will happen. The doctor said she may want to send me to a specialist and to do one more ultrasound but it depends on the bloodtest.
Wish me luck.

ChemoMan · Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:56 pm Post subject: Re: Could it be lymphoma?

Hi Honeychild

First hello and welcome and sorry to hear of your disturbing symptoms. Your symptoms do not mean you have Lymphoma as there are over 300 conditions that can cause these symptoms. All the tests you have had also will not give a definite diagnosis for Lymphoma, the only way to do this is by an excisional biopsy. Fine needle biopsy can also be useful but they are prone to false negatives and if Non hodgkins is found an excisional biopsy needs to be done anyway.

Have some patience as this process could take some time. It took one fine needle biopsy, 2 excisional biopsies and 6 months before I was finally diagnosed with Lymphoma so hang in there. We have had well over 100 people post here with symptoms like yours and only 2 have had positives for lymphoma, so you can see how rare it really is, that should give you some comfort. Do follow this up as you are the best advocate for your own health and keep your doctors actively investigating this until you are satisfied.

Good luck and keep us posted.
_________________
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
Remission confirmed 17 June 2009
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=9620
RULE NUMBER 1.....Don't Panic
RULE NUMBER 2..... Don't forget Rule number 1

Honeychild · New User Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 8

Hello Chemoman,

Thank you for your reply. It is very comforting to hear that it's rare to have lymphoma and that my symptomps could also be from something else.
I won't be satisfied if I don't get an answer of what I have and I will let the doctors keep investigating this more thoroughly. But I heard that they will try to rule out other things first and that biopsy would be the last resort. But from reading your experience seems like you had to wait a long time to get your diagnosis. I don't know if I have the patient for that since I tend to worry a lot, especially studying abroad now without my parents here.
It is annoying to not know what you have, because if you know then your mind will be at ease and you can then focus on getting the right treatment to get better. So I hope I can get some answers soon.

Take care!

	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