CancerCompass message board discussion started by Millypoo on 11/20/2006 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,7907,0.htm Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Hi, About 3 years ago I started having random strange high fevers and was not sleeping well. When i went to the dentist, he told me that I might have swollen adnoids that were causing me not to be able to sleep. He refered me to an ear, nose, throat dr. When i got there, the doctor noticed a lymphnode on my neck. It was about the size of a brazil nut(one of those large nuts). I was not alarmed because it had been there for a good while and did not hurt. This obviously sent off some red flags for him because he refered me to another dr. to have it checked out. I was put on at least a month of antibiotics to see if it would go away but it never did. I went to several other dr.s . Many did not know anything about it. I even had one lady tell me that it was not a lymphnode at all that it was just a blood vessel. Well, i knew that it was a lymph node so I went to one more dr. THis doctor sent me to get a biopsy by needle aspiration. Whatever they pulled out came up inconclusive because there was too much fluid? or something. So i was sent to get an MRI of the node and they put some liquid into my blood to help distiguish the node. Well, when i got the results, it did not show that anything was there. This was strange but it also happened when I had my appendex removed. The MRI showed that the appendex was not inflamed, when it actually was. The doctor said that the only thing that we could do would be to remove the entire lymph node. So in january 2004 I had the entire node removed. The Dr. concluded that it was actually a node but he says it was not cancerous. I did not ask anymore questions. i was really miserable from the surgery for about a month because of a tiny infection and my parents did not delve into it anymore. Now, looking back, I wish I had gotten the node that he removed. I wish that I had asked more questions. He never even told me what made it large. Anyways, I was wondering if the people that have lymphoma were diagnosed immediately after the removal of the lymphnode? I heard on other message boards about how people had to send their lymph node to several doctors before they actually confirmed that they had lymphoma and that many doctors can miss the cells that tell them that they have cancer. I might be a little overly concerned. My other question is about the time span for lymphoma. If I have not had any other symptoms for a few years does that mean I do not have cancer? Wouldnt I have seen other symptoms? My final question is kind of random but I was wondering if anyone has heard of a connection between an abnormal chromosome 1 and lymphoma? I THanks for reading!! Any info would be greatly appriciated! Millypoo Mon, 20 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT Q: Anyways, I was wondering if the people that have lymphoma were diagnosed immediately after the removal of the lymph node? A: The biopsy is sent to a pathology lab. It takes about 3-5 days to get the results back. Most of the time it is either normal or not. Sometimes the biopsy specimen is not a good one (like fat instead of lymph node got biopsied because the surgeon is a damn moron). Sometimes the lab screws up preparing the biopsy specimen. Sometimes the specimen is hard to interpret and gets sent to Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, where it can take them weeks to decide. http://www.afip.org/ Q: My other question is about the time span for lymphoma. If I have not had any other symptoms for a few years does that mean I do not have cancer? Wouldn't I have seen other symptoms? A: Lymphoma can be "indolent" which means slow growing and few symptoms. But I agree with you - from what you have said, you likely do not have lymphoma. Symptoms to watch for include itching, fatigue, weight loss, night sweats, and of course lymph nodes under your arms, in your groin, in your neck. Q: My final question is kind of random but I was wondering if anyone has heard of a connection between an abnormal chromosome 1 and lymphoma? A: Yep. You're pretty sharp. Most people don't know that. Amnia Mon, 20 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT Wow! Thanks so much for your quick response. It gave me some relief that you do not think that I have lymphoma and I really have not been worrying about it for about a year but. . . It kind of scares me that you said that there is a connection about chromosome 1 and lymphoma. I recently found out from my parents that I have an inverted ring or something in my chromosome 1 and and extra node? THey are not really sure because they declined further research when I was born. THey also said that I had something weird with the numbers. I do not have down syndrome, i am not mentally or physically delayed so I am trying to find out what all of this means. After they told me, I talked to my biology teacher and i got on the internet to try to find out about chromosome 1 abnormalities. To my suprise, and not a good one, it led me to some papers and journals that linked lymphoma and chromosome 1. This does not make me happy considering I have already done my share of worrying about lymphoma a few years ago with the whole lymph node removal. SO here i am again worrying in the back of my mind that the doctor might have missed something or the CT scan and stuff did not work on me! I know the name of the doctor that did my genetic work when i was in my mother's stomach so I am going to be trying to contact him to find out about my chromosomes. Do you know anything else about the link between chromosome 1 and lymphoma. I really could not understand all of the scientific stuff in the articles. Again, thanks so much for your response I really do appreciate it! Millypoo Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT