Hi Pat. Welcome to the group although I am sorry to hear you have Lymphoma. It is very possible to have Lymphoma and not feel poorly. When I first was diagnosed, the only reason I knew is because I grew a lump and had it removed. It was through the pathology that I realized I had cancer. It totally surprised me. I too was a little tired and once it in awhile got night sweats but that was it. I thought I was just overdoing it.

My understanding is grading determines how fast your lymphoma will grow. Usually "follicular" lymphoma is the slow growing kind. If that is the case, then your cancer isn't aggressive and will grow slowly. The great news about that is you live a very long time and often don't need the real aggressive treatments. The bad news is it is not curable so it is something you will learn to live with and will treat it periodically.

I was diagnosed with small cell, follicular (don't remember the grading) NHL. I did Rituxan treatments for two cycles at first but haven't treated since. That was almost 7 years ago. They have discovered that slow growing follicular lymphoma doesn't always need treatment if there aren't real signs and symptoms that are troublesome. So many people do "watch and wait" which simply means you don't treat it until it becomes troublesome. I attended a Lymphoma conference a few years ago and heard that they found people who treat versus people who do watch and wait have no difference in their disease progression or prognosis. So in my book, if it isn't bothering you, and you are comfortable not treating, don't.

The treatments, while necessary, are difficult on your body and carry many side effects. If you can avoid pumping it into your body, that is great. Also, my doctor has always felt it was best to be the most conservative with treatment. There are certain treatments that prevent you from being able to have other treatments. They are also coming out with new treatments regularly. We wanted to avoid giving me a treatment that would prevent me from a future treatment that might cure me. So we are conservative. It took me awhile to be okay with that but I did learn to be.

So while it sounds strange, try to not jump too far ahead until you know what you are working with. It could very likely be that you just go on with your daily life knowing you may need to treat that lump someday but for today, it is just a lump.

So glad you are feeling well. I know how scary hearing the diagnosis is and how overwhelming it all is. Once they fine tune your diagnosis, you can educate yourself, and agree to a treatment plan with your doctor that you are both comfortable with...even if it is "watch and wait".

Thank you Lexisgirl. I will be nice to be able to talk about my feeling here as time goes on. If I can live 15 more years, as some of the articles I have read say you can live a long time with this....I will be happy. I am 67 years old and Love being with my family. I have 4 children and 6 grandson. Although I am not afraid to die, I just am not ready yet.... :-). I don't think any of us are ever ready. But I also know I am not the one in control,. So will just put my life in God's hands and Trust him.

I bet you will live longer than that! With the medications now, it is unlikely we will die from our NHL.

I am okay for when I die but I still have a few things left I want to do. I've done so much since 2003. I always feel like I am on borrowed time now! There are certain things through the year that always bring a tear to my eye because I see each day as a gift and am I so thankful when another year rolls around. Cancer has certainly made my life and especially my relationships so rich. It has actually been a wonderful gift. I hope you are able to relax about it and live your life very fully as well.

Do keep us posted and post any time.

Pat,
Sorry to see you on this group (if you didn't have this, you probably wouldn't be here). But, since you do, welcome.

I am in the same boat as you. I was diagnosed with Stage 3A Grade 1 after I had a mass removed from my upper leg in Oct. 2011. In fact, I have my 6 month visit with the oncologist this Weds. To this date, I have been asymptomatic, but the mental side at the beginning was pretty rough. I am getting better on that front (not over it, but better). In fact, my 94 yr. old mother-in-law, who lived with us, got very sick 2 weeks after I was diagnosed, and she passed away in january. And, I have a lump in my necl, too. When I started this, the PET scan showed 8 different locations all over my body. Now, 6 months later, I have about 14 lumps.

Please do yourself a favor, there is a very active follicular NHL support group located at www.lymphomasurvival.com with probably 1000 pages of articles written on the subject, and an active base of 2500 members. I believe article #2 is a 30 page overview of the subject. This site and the one that you are on now, really helped me deal with this .

We're here for you.

Thanks Dave, I still am having a little hard time getting my mind wrapped around this. If I had the classic symtoms maybe it would be easier, I don't have the night sweats , nor am I losing weight. The only thing I have is that my neck aches sometimes, and I am a little tired, but I contribute that to dealing with my Mom's heart problems. I am the sole care taker. What is nice about this support group is that we can share and we know we aren't alone. People mean well and try to understand, but unless you have had cancer you just can't really understand. That goes for a lot of things in life. I was a young widow with 4 children and there wasn't many support groups back then. Our church had one, but most of the people in it were old enough to be my mom or Dad. And all they kept saying was poor Pat left with 4 kid. I didn't want sympathy, i wanted to be able to talk to someone that understands and to just be there to listen when I needed to talk about it. And I think it is the same thing with cancer..... I don't want sympathy I want someone just to listen when I need to talk about it. I know my kids care and they are worried, they lost one parent to cancer and now here I am. They were young but my three older ones remember and my youngest was only 3, so he doesn't remember.

Here iI go again, just rattling on. I will go and check out that other site. Thanks agin Dave for your input. And I wish you the best...

When I had the lump/mass (about the size of a half a lemon - but no pain) removed, we took some posing photos in the operating room. Kidding around, since the last time that I was in a hospital, for me, was 55 yrs. ago when I swallowed a quarter. They gave me a wrist band that said "Fall Risk", which I wore back to work, again kidding around. Hey, I was a lifetime athlete. Then at 3PM on Oct. 23, I got a phone call from the surgeon. He told me that I had B-cell lymphoma, but that it was the most treatable cancer that you can get. He did such a good job "laying this on me", that I went off 2 hours later to play a music gig (I am also a bass player for almost 50 years), and didn't feel too bad about. Then I got home and started researching it, and started feeling much worse. Like you, no symptoms, but I keep finding more lumps.

The thing that saved me on this relatively short journey, so far, has been the wonderful giving that is available in these support groups. I can't even imagine how bad it was prior to the internet. You're just getting started. I have my 6 month follow-up in 2 days. I still feel like I am walking around with an axe over my head. The you will hear folks give you advice, like "we all have an axe over our heads". I really don't want to hear that. There are things that I will accept immediately from my "sisters and brothers in the fold" that I will not accept from others. In fact, I think the Lexisgirl posted something a while ago about that we need to be a little nicer to those who say "stupid things" to us trying to help out. Hey, it is awkward, and they really do mean well. I always like my father's advice "You need to stop thinking about this". My reply (I'm sure everyone else's here too): Would you?!

Again, were here for you. Don't know where mine is going, but I'm trying to deal with it.

I hope both of you have a great follow up appointment. Please let us know how you are doing. I think of my friends here often and hope they are well.

It did take me awhile to get used to going to the follow up appointments without severe anxiety about what I might hear. It does get better and it does get easier.

Feel free to post here any time Pat. Sharing feelings, ideas, and knowledge is the exact spirit of a support group. Online allows you to do it from the comfort of your own home.

Well, right now my health problems are on back burner until next week,. Just took Mom back to hospital last night. She was having a hard time breathing..... Visiting nurse called the doctor and he said to get her to the hospital, So will be running again, If you are praying people, please keep her in your prayers,. I will check back with you all later....

Dave I will be praying for you regarding your check up on Wed.

Pat

Pat, I will never forget the day my oncologist told me I had Lymphoma. Like a lightening bolt out of the blue. I had been feeling so tired, had night sweats and itchy skin. I had put that down to age!

The staging process will take place after tests that your oncologist will request. It's difficult and dreadfull at this time because it consumes your thoughts and you have your mom to care for.

I was diagnosed in Jan 2011 and at that time I was dealing with my youngest son who had been diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder and totally phsychotic, so I understand to a degree what you are going through. No time for you to sit down and grasp the situation. I had a bit of a melt down and had a huge altercation with God. BUT - as time went on I learned to accept our situations (my son and I) and really it became managable. Acceptance allows positivety to creep in.
As Lexisgirl says, these days with the ongoing medical advances it is most likely that we will outlive the cancer.

Wishing you the best results after your visit with the oncologist.

Pat, I will never forget the day my oncologist told me I had Lymphoma. Like a lightening bolt out of the blue. I had been feeling so tired, had night sweats and itchy skin. I had put that down to age!

The staging process will take place after tests that your oncologist will request. It's difficult and dreadfull at this time because it consumes your thoughts and you have your mom to care for.

I was diagnosed in Jan 2011 and at that time I was dealing with my youngest son who had been diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder and totally phsychotic, so I understand to a degree what you are going through. No time for you to sit down and grasp the situation. I had a bit of a melt down and had a huge altercation with God. BUT - as time went on I learned to accept our situations (my son and I) and really it became managable. Acceptance allows positivety to creep in.
As Lexisgirl says, these days with the ongoing medical advances it is most likely that we will outlive the cancer.

Wishing you the best results after your visit with the oncologist.

Pat, I will never forget the day my oncologist told me I had Lymphoma. Like a lightening bolt out of the blue. I had been feeling so tired, had night sweats and itchy skin. I had put that down to age!

The staging process will take place after tests that your oncologist will request. It's difficult and dreadfull at this time because it consumes your thoughts and you have your mom to care for.

I was diagnosed in Jan 2011 and at that time I was dealing with my youngest son who had been diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder and totally phsychotic, so I understand to a degree what you are going through. No time for you to sit down and grasp the situation. I had a bit of a melt down and had a huge altercation with God. BUT - as time went on I learned to accept our situations (my son and I) and really it became managable. Acceptance allows positivety to creep in.
As Lexisgirl says, these days with the ongoing medical advances it is most likely that we will outlive the cancer.

Wishing you the best results after your visit with the oncologist.

Pat, I will never forget the day my oncologist told me I had Lymphoma. Like a lightening bolt out of the blue. I had been feeling so tired, had night sweats and itchy skin. I had put that down to age!

The staging process will take place after tests that your oncologist will request. It's difficult and dreadfull at this time because it consumes your thoughts and you have your mom to care for.

I was diagnosed in Jan 2011 and at that time I was dealing with my youngest son who had been diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder and totally phsychotic, so I understand to a degree what you are going through. No time for you to sit down and grasp the situation. I had a bit of a melt down and had a huge altercation with God. BUT - as time went on I learned to accept our situations (my son and I) and really it became managable. Acceptance allows positivety to creep in.
As Lexisgirl says, these days with the ongoing medical advances it is most likely that we will outlive the cancer.

Wishing you the best results after your visit with the oncologist.

Pat, I will never forget the day my oncologist told me I had Lymphoma. Like a lightening bolt out of the blue. I had been feeling so tired, had night sweats and itchy skin. I had put that down to age!

The staging process will take place after tests that your oncologist will request. It's difficult and dreadfull at this time because it consumes your thoughts and you have your mom to care for.

I was diagnosed in Jan 2011 and at that time I was dealing with my youngest son who had been diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder and totally phsychotic, so I understand to a degree what you are going through. No time for you to sit down and grasp the situation. I had a bit of a melt down and had a huge altercation with God. BUT - as time went on I learned to accept our situations (my son and I) and really it became managable. Acceptance allows positivety to creep in.
As Lexisgirl says, these days with the ongoing medical advances it is most likely that we will outlive the cancer.

Wishing you the best results after your visit with the oncologist.

My 6 month update: Not much. Had my appointment with the oncologist yesterday, knowing that I wasn't really going to get any info out of the appt. But, we can hope (and hope that its good news). The vampires took 5 vials (or is that just vile) of blood, and scheduled anither PET scan for May 15th. Then, I get to go back (more $$$) on May 17th to find out what the tests have to say. Hurry up and wait.

The doc did acknowledge that hey felt that the mass in my abdomen had grown (but I knew that - the scan will measure that).

Again, just dealing with this. Hope everyone else is having a great day.

Had a follow-up visit with oncologist today. All is fine so far. He cannot feel any swollen lymphnodes and the blood tests are normal. So no bone marrow biopsy or CT scan needed - whew! Have to have a heart echo cardiogram to test where the heart function is now (caused by the chemo) but that is not a problem for me. Relief!
My heart is out there for all of you who are in a precarious situation. Support on this site helps beyond measure. Just being able to talk about things no one else can understand because they are not there themselves is so therapeutic.
Thanks Dave, you've been such a rock and huge motivation!