Diagnosis: Lymphoma

My ENT doctor called me with the results of my tests.  Hodgkin's Lymphoma. 

As a bit of background.  A month or two ago, I noticed that the right side of my neck was swollen.  At the time, I had assumed it was a muscle strain, because I had overdone it in a yoga class earlier in the week.  It didn't hurt, but it was noticeable.  With a bit of massage, I really thought that the swelling had gone down.  Instead, the swelling just seemed to fluctuate...not getting too much bigger, but not too much smaller. 

I finally then made it out to see a doctor.  Of course, my doctor, with little bedside manner, managed to scare the living crap out of me by telling me that it was a pretty serious issue.  CT scans were required.  Of course, at this time, my insurance was changing because of the Oracle acquisition.  It took about a two weeks to finally get this done. 

Next day, my doc calls me in and tells me flatly that it's most likely lymphoma.  Of course, didn't get the bedside manner I was looking for.  His first recommendation was to go see an oncologist. 

Ok...at this point (two weeks ago), I am starting to freak out.  What the heck is this, what am I supposed to do?  I don't know what questions to ask my doc and I don't really think he was interested in spending the time to help.  And why is it taking so long to get an appointment with the oncologist? 

At this point, I decided that this doc wasn't really helping.  So, I went to get a second opinion from Dr. Schreiber at Rose Medical center.  He read the same report of my scans and said, that yes, it could be lymphoma, but it could be a bunch of other things.  The real thing to do was to see an ENT to get a biopsy done.  An oncologist was way too soon in the process. 

I went to the Dr. Reichman at Rose Medical last Thursday to get the needle biopsy done.  That hurt.  The first time, they basically stuck the needle in my neck and then moved it back and forth to loosen up the cells.  I was groaning because I could feel it as he moved the needle back and forth.  A quick test under the microscope confirmed that the problem was in the lymph nodes.  Second time.  Again with the needle.  At least, I felt more prepared, but it still hurt.  Afterwards, Dr. Reichman spent some time answering our questions.  He even showed me the CT scan where the lymph nodes were all swollen.  It was pretty scary just looking at this.

Of course, more waiting.  Friday comes along, I was hoping for preliminary results.  But it was quite unlikely because the sample had to be shipped to California for testing, although I don't really know why.  Saturday.  Sunday, I went to Carolyn's 30th birthday party, which definitely got our minds off of things.  Monday...still no results.

At this point, I've already starting concentrating on other things like work.  I'm not even thinking about this.  I was assuming that things were fine because there weren't any other symptoms and I was told that it was quite possible that this was benign.  I certainly didn't expect the diagnosis that I was given.

It still hasn't really hit me that I have cancer.  I think that other people are more worried than I am.  It's hard to all of a sudden have a shift, especially, when I already went through my freak-out phase.  The bright side was that it was Hodgkin's lymphoma, which has a very good success rate.  As my brother-in-law put it, "If there was a cancer you had to have, this would be it." 

So, at this point, I am just waiting for the next appointment with the oncologist.  Not much else can be done except to push on.  There's a house to close.  Valentine's day dinner.  There's no need to mope around the house.

I've talked to the family already, and I know I'm going to get their support 100%.  Of course, our friends have given their support as well.  This, I'm so grateful for.

Bring it on.