My dad has had a large lump on his neck for the best part of 2 yrs. It started off small & grew to the size of a half tennis ball & was painless. For awhile it seemed to shrink to half the size & then it got bigger again & now there are 2 'lumps' & they are so big & so hard it seems that it's his whole neck that is twice it's size.
The lumps are now tender & are causing a lot of pain. My dad says it seems that the pressure feels so bad it's like his neck could burst open & it's causing headaches & head pain which is worse when he's moving about.
During the last 2yrs my dad has had blood tests, Ultrasounds, a CAT scan & 3 FNA biospys. All tests done have been inconclusive & back in July of this year the DR at the ENT suggested cutting out some of the lump to be tested which my dad objected to & declined (cutting out the lump & risking something bad speading was not an option to him as a family member had the same thing & within a week they died).
Last night I received a phone call with the results of the last FNA & was told cancerous cells had been found.
I took my dad to the Dr at the ENT today to discuss the next step - the referral to hematology but while there we expressed the pain he was in with his head & how his chest kept 'rattling' & it was hard to eat & how he felt like he was 'drowning' in flem but nothing was coming up.
He then referred us to see a Dr. At the hospital who gave him a chest x-ray, blood tests, ECG tests, checked his nerve reactions (1 eyelid keeps drooping) another CAT scan & spoke to hematology.
The Dr. Said the Hematologist said no time to wait, keeping him in, giving him Oramorph & starting Chemotherapy tomorrow morning.
From what I heard the ENT Dr. Saying it is a B Grade Non Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Can someone who's been through this let me know there experience?
My Dad is 70yrs old, has Rheumatoid arthritis & a weak heart.
What will Chemotherapy do to him? Will he lose his hair? Will he be sick? He lives alone & the upkeep of his house has gone downhill & I'm worrying that he won't be able to go home while undergoing the whole course of treatment as his house is the opposite of sterile.
I'm not sure what to say to him & I'm so scared but having to stay positive.
