hi brenda

i mentioned to my oncologist about how some people at work would say to me that worrying to much is making you bad but he said that it is not so,in my case it was just that i was showing signs of b symptoms such as night sweats,weight loss,and low red blood counts,so really it is just a progression of the disease,hence the need for chemo in my case,but there are so many different forms of non hodgins lymphoma and so many treatments and as to how people come to get this form of cancer seems to mystify the medical proffesion,so i am led to believe,but all i know is we must remain as positive because it is a good help and we must live in hope that they will find a cure for this in the future,so i hope that the scan is good and your daughters health improves,and i am hear if ever you need to talk or let off steam,so take care and give a hug to everyone for me and keep ya chin up.

         jeff. hugz n xx

Hello All

My daughter Rosemary has had her 3rd treatment of Chemo , she goes for her fourth chemo treatment this Thursday , but before she has that she has to go for a scan to see how things are progressing although the main mass is on her chest , the instructions for this scan is to be on the abdomne and pelvis she is anxsious about this as we her parents are , but we would like to know if shes responding to treatment

Rosemary has been reasonably well with the chemo no sickness, but for the last nine weeks since chemo started she has suffered a bad sore mouth , it started with a fungal infection and blisters , Nystatin was perscribed but it cleaned the mouth up but she still has a sore mouth , So much so last weekend we had her with us for lunch and she broke her heart she could eat nothing , we contacted the hospital to see if we could take her in for them to see as they had told us any problems contact them , two of her doctors advise that she takes the Nystatin two squirts 4 times a day every day till her next appointment , its still uncomfortable for her to swallow food though , which conserns us as shes lost a lot of weight , Has anybody else on chemo treatment had this problem , can you advise us what we might be able to tempt her with , we are running out of ideas

Rosemary also had an angry rash on her chest and around her mouth dermatitis was diagnosed the wah medication and cream is clearing that up well

I will be with her for her appointments next week and we will bring this problem up again , We do appreciate all they are doing for her she has a great medical team , but it does get so frustrating for the person with cancers relatives , when we try to do our best , without nagging too much as Rosemary gets very up tight about it all , shes not used to being sick and its come as a shock to her, we darent back off too much as we have found if we dont keep an eye on her she forgets to take medication and forgets to take her tempeture

I have been following the mails of Terminal Tanya , very concerned about her , but Tanya if you read this your relatives must be very worried about you and they possibly dont come and see you because it upsets them they dont like to see you poorly like this , but I know from my daughter she wants us to keep going to see her as she gets lonely and she wants to go out of the four walls, so we take her out for a drive

Jeff I hope things went ok with your treatment today , you are an insperations to all on here as a good many more like you are

You are All in my thoughts and prayers   Brenda x 

Hi Brenda,

I hope you dont mind me butting in here as my type isBreast cancer.I had a little bit of the sore mouth with one chemo and was prescribed Difflam mouthrinse which was anaesthetic and helped.Chocolate Complan is quite nice warm and had hte minerals in it.I also ate lots of ice cream  also mashed potato with poached egg seemed to be OK.Someone suggested sucking pinneaple which helps for some.It must be absoluteely devastating for you and we do tend to take things out on you lovely people who care for us as you are the first in the firing line.I have treated strangers better than my dear husband but we dont mean it,honest.You are doing the right thing by taking her out as much as possible,it really does help.

I hope the scan is good news and dont stop just being there ,she does appreciate it but chemo is so tiring we sometimes forget to tell you all how much you are doing for us.

Good luck to you all from one Rosemary to another

Rose xxx

Hello Rose

No I welcome your contact Rose, Rosemary is trying a banana complan and  pineapple is one of the juices she likes ,  I will suggest  the idea of poached egg with mashed potatoe, shes laid off eggs as that was one food she was asked to avoid as she likes them soft , I did read one lady liquidised many fruits and vegatables to drink , but it dosent give you much body in the food but you get the vitimins, she tries poridgee in a morning

This dreadful desease seems to feed of the persons body she feels hungry but finds it difficult to get food down , Hopefully there might be some improvement today , she told me yesterday that a macmillan nurse is going to see her at home on Wednesday we are pleased about that as hopefully Rosemary will to talk to  her better than she can with us we cant get her to share her feelings with us , shes halfway through this course of chemo we are trying to think positive

Hope all is going well for youself , and that you have a nice day Rose

Love Brenda x

hi brenda

i am sorry to see that rosemary is having some problems with the effects of the chemo,as you may know my chemo is of tablet form and i consider my self quite fortunate when i see how much other people are suffering,although i do have it rough for a few days and then i seem to pick up really well as soon as i have taken my last chemo tablets and as i have said to quite a few people i am feeling a whole lot better and in my oppinion am looking a whole lot better so for me it seems things are going well ,so i hope things go well with the scan and the results are in your favour so take care and keep ya chin up.

    jeff .     hugz to you all. x.

Hell All

Sorry I've been so long in updating you on how my daughter Rosemary is getting on with her Non Hodgkin Lymphoma

Tomorrow we take her for her 5th of 6 treatments of Chemo, the time has gone so fast , after her being first diagnosed on 19th Nove 2010 , Its been a rocky road for her with the chemo treatments , not too bad for sickness , but often very tired and weak , some weeks not eating some weeks eating a little , there has been a problem from the start with fungi in the mouth and a sore mouth due to ulcers   prescribed mouth wash  we still worry about her weight loss

10 days ago she was looking forward to going to the local hospice day centre arranged  by the Macmillan nurse, they were to pick her up 9ish and return her in the afternoon, the first morning she went they asked if she needed to see the doctor about anything , she said yes she would like her mouth looked at as there was an ulcer preventing her from eating the doctor checks her out and finds her tempeture is up to 38.6 and the contact the hospital to be told to send her into hospital , So off we go with her, much to Rosemary's disappointment she was really upset

Once at the hospital it was blood tests several to find out what was causing her an infection , they put two more blood samples into different bottles as they were going to see if it would grow a culture , she's on Warfarin to thin the blood , the tests revealed she had over dosed on the Warfarin , but she had taken what she had been told to , that became a bigger concern she was taken off warfarin till they stabilised it, which ment going every day for a warfarin blood test for a week , Rosemary hates injection needles and gets really stressed out , felt sorry for her they had to try so many time to get needles in her veins they are so small and shrinking , I sympathise with another lady on this site that has the same problem this is the worst part of the treatment for her sometimes it can take an hour to get needles in then an hour to wait sometimes to see the consultant after chemo or blood transfusions it makes the day long for us too.

This week she's had to go for intravenous antibiotics for three days , after her second scan taken after her 3rd Chemo treatment we asked what the results were of that , we were told thankfully it was significantly improved , I asked what did that mean was the mass shrinking ?, the consultant brought the original scan picture up on the screen two thirds of the screen covering the heart was covered by a grey mass , it was like a big pancake, on the second scan he pointed out where the heart was and the mass had two thirds disappeared we were amazed , so pleased to see those pictures , Rosemary was amazed too at leased seeing those pictures of her responding to treatment has given her encouragement to crack on with the chemo treatment even though it knocks her about , she sure went home ecstatic that day

I wanted to tell you this folks as hopefully there will be a light at the end of your tunel too, I have been on here reading your messages so many of you in my thoughts and prayers Today,I gave Rosemary someones advice on here to massage the scalp with olive oil to help the hair grow back , she got a bottle today , she didnt fancy the chip fat , I hope it wont be long before she puts a message on for you all herself

Thank you for all your messages especially Rose and Jeff , I've been wondering if you were going through difficult times Jeff, not seen you on for a little while till now, Love the penguin profile Take care all God Bless

Hugs and x x x to all you brave people

MY HUSBAND HAS NHL, FOR OVER 8 YEARS. THE NODES HAVE NOW SPREAD TO MANY AREAS. ONE LARGE ONE IN HIS GROAN CAUSING ALOT OF SWELLING IN HIS LEG. A RECENT ONE CROPPED UP IN HIS CHEST THAT IS COMPRESSING ON A MAJOR HEART ARTERY....WHICH SOUNDS SIMILAR TO YOUR DAUGHTERS CASE. OVER THE YEARS HE HAS HAD MANY TYPES OF CHEMOS. NOW THEY ARE GOING TO INTRODUCE HIM TO R-SHAP. ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THAT? CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT REGIMEN OF CHEMO SHE TOOK? APPRECIATE IT... KAREN FROM CANADA

Hello Karen

I am sorry to hear about your husband going through these difficult times

I don't know anything about the medication you are inquiring about

My daughter Rosemary is on CMVP/CHOP chemotherapy , its a course of 6 treatments , she had her 5th treatment last week , the chemo treatments are 3 weeks apart, along with this chemo taken intravenously takes Ondansetron  ( anti sickness )     Prednisolne  ( Steroid )   Omeprazole  ( Anti acid )    Ciprofloxacin   ( Antibiotic )    Nystatin Suspension  9 Anti fungal )

Her second scan showed a significant improvemnt the mass had reduced to a third of its original size of a melon , which pleased Rosemary very much , at the present time she's feeling much better than she was and she's eating better ,she has had two blood transfusions due to being anaemic , she's been on intravenous antibiotics to clear up a sore mouth that was preventing her from eating , the mouth is much better at the moment she hopes the sore mouth doesnt come back

Its good to share notes with you in Canada thanks to the Internet , Myself I do appreciate this site I've been able to pass on a few tips to her, So many people on hear battling with this awful disease one way and another You and your husband are in our thoughts and prayers praying for a miracle for you

Love Brenda Shropshire Eng UK

Hello.

I am now 28 years old and had non hodgkins lymphoma B Cell when i was 20 - 22. I had about two years worth of treatment all in all with chemo on a fortnightly basis and then a stem cell transplant at the end. I am now in remission and have been for over 6 years. So i am grateful for that and for everyone that helped me through it. In my opinion the chemo got worse as the time went on but as an individual i think you get to grips with it and learn when you good and bad days are!

I think your mum will take it at her own pace and know what is right and best for her.

One thing i learnt to do was to plan thing on my good days.. this was normally when i was taking steriods or the week before my chemo was due this gave me something to look forward to and stopped me getting down and anxious by being stuck in the house. There are so many thing i learnt and did just too many to post. From wigs to infections to what i eat the list goes on!

The biggest problem i found i had was getting mouth ulcers because of the cells being killed off.... i found sucking ice and lollies really helpful with this and especially keeping hydrated.

One other thing i really appreciated was having my mum or someone with me whilst i had my chemo it made the time go a lot quicker whilst i was sat there with my drip.

I hope this helps as well as everyone elses post and best wishes to you all x