Relapse Scare Question

Hi Everyone.  My husband finished treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma in August 2007.  His first PET following treatment was all clear (in 11/07).  He had a CT Scan in February 2008, and he recently found out he had new enlarged lymph nodes in his neck.  He has no other symptoms, and he was just beginning to recover from the flu at the time he had the CT.  They have ordered a PET for next week, but we are scared!  Has this happened to anyone else?  Is it realistic to think the flu/bad cold could have caused these neck lymph nodes to swell?  Thanks!!

any fevers, night sweats, wt loss, itching or cough?  Try not to worry til you get the PET done.

 

On 4/3/2008 Oncrx wrote:

any fevers, night sweats, wt loss, itching or cough?  Try not to worry til you get the PET done.

No symptoms at all, and he had all of the above prior to his original diagnosis. 

I know how you feel I'm in the same boat for the second time now. Last year I was due for my annual CT but was just recovering from Pnuemonia and there was some swelling of the glands related to where they first found the cancer but a CT in NOV cleared me. Now low and behold a year later what do I have Puemonia...again and this time X-rays showed a rounded mass on my left lung. So now I'm scheduled for another CT and sitting here running through all the what if's. I just got married in OCT last year so this is the wife's first real scare. So let's hope my CT and your husband's have the same results the first one had..

I usually go to esophageal board since husband has EC, but check in most days and saw your message off to the side and looked at it. We do a form of energy healing called tongren healing, and have what we call guinea pig classes in our locally since it was developed in the area we live in. I have posted about where to find info on esophageal board as well as alternative medicine board. I am mentioning it to you because we have a friend who started coming to class in the fall with Non-Hodgkins.  He had a golfball size growth when we met. He did a round of chemo and has done tongren regularly since his diagnosis.  His doctors are blown away...the growth is gone and he is actually regenerating tissue which they said never happens. He wears his blood oxygen gage on his finger in class when we tap on him. The numbers will rise into the mid 90's in the space of a minute or less, and he said it stays elevated about 1/2 the week before it stops dropping back again.  He's feeling quite well at this point and fared really well through his treatments. I know it's very strange, unbelievable, etc.....but I have seen amazing things and he is not the only Non-Hodgkins person I have seen really respond to tongren. Esophageal is not curable, but we are nearing 2 1/2 years out from dx, and have been told more than once by husband's oncologist that we are not textbook, and have already beaten the odds even though I know there are no guarantees in this game. I've been through treatment with my husband doing tongren and not doing it, and although the 2nd and 3rd rounds of chemo used bigger dosages of chemo drugs, we fared much better (no missed weeks due to low blood counts, etc), and his doctor was really surprised by the way he bounces right back over and over. My attitude is that we have nothing to lose when we are fighting cancer. Your new wife might enjoy it too...it can really help to relax you and alleviate some of the stress that goes with this ride.

Oops! Just realized you said Hodgkins and not non-Hodgkins. Sorry! I would try it anyways...it works with various cancers....preferable to get it before it metastasizes too many times if you have one that is prone to mets. Dana Farber/Harvard Medical School did a survey last year and are publishing results with plans to do further research, so crazy as it seems, the medical establishment has taken notice since we are getting results. Have seen people Dana Farber was done treating a year ago because there was nothing else to do, who are currently alive and in remission. Know people sent through scanners repeated times under the eyes of the doctors because they don't believe it and think the machines must be broken when lesions just vanish.  Good luck with whatever options you choose. 

Hi!  Wanted to let you know my husband had his follow up PET scan, and everything was clear!  Hooray!  The nodes were enlarged just from him having the flu.  I hope and pray that your wife's scan has the same results. 

oops, I mean I hope and pray YOUR scan has the same good results!