Talk Cancer

Question:

I am a 25 year old male who has had Hodgkin’s reoccur.  I was diagnosed with stage IIIa back in ‘93.  4 months ago I started having night sweats and a fever.  Went to my oncologist, he felt around and to make a long story shorter, it was back.  Unlike most IIIa patient I had no chemo. total nodal irradiation.  When it came back my doctors thought it was confined only to my neck and my oncologist believed it was safe to give me more radiation to just those areas.   I still have a lump right underneath my jaw which doesn’t seem to go away.  Even with direct radiation it doesn’t shrink very much which leads my doctor to believe that it is a salivary gland, possible damaged by all my radiation.  Has anyone else with Hodgkin’s had salivary gland lumps?

Dear Tom, I believe Hodgkin loves salivary glands, but I’m no doctor. By all means, subscribe to the Hodkins Listserv: To: Multiple recipients of the Hodgkins Disease Mailing List ‘Unsubscribe Hodgkins’ in the message body. To subscribe, put ’subscribe Hodgkins’ in the message body. (without the quotes of course!) After your subscription has  been accepted, you can send an introductory message, and more likely than not you will get reactions from several people who had the same or a similar experience. The list has several hundred members (most in the US and Canada.) All the best, regards, Rob van Albada, Amsterdam.

Response:

Tom, I believe a second opinion is in order here to make sure that you are getting the appropriate treatment to knock out HD for good.  I would gather all of your films and any biopsy slides and go to the closest major cancer center (the Hutch in Seattle, Anderson in Houston, Sloan-Kettering in New York, etc.) and have one of their doctors go over your case to make sure.  Most insurances will pay for a second opinion. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am a 25 year old male who has had Hodgkin’s reoccur.  I was diagnosed with stage IIIa back in ‘93.  4 months ago I started having night sweats and a fever.  Went to my oncologist, he felt around and to make a long story shorter, it was back.  Unlike most IIIa patient I had no chemo. total nodal irradiation.  When it came back my doctors thought it was confined only to my neck and my oncologist believed it was safe to give me more radiation to just those areas.   I still have a lump right underneath my jaw which doesn’t seem to go away.  Even with direct radiation it doesn’t shrink very much which leads my doctor to believe that it is a salivary gland, possible damaged by all my radiation.  Has anyone else with Hodgkin’s had salivary gland lumps?

Response:

I am a 25 year old male who has had Hodgkin’s reoccur.  I was diagnosed with stage IIIa back in ‘93.  4 months ago I started having night sweats and a fever.  Went to my oncologist, he felt around and to make a long story shorter, it was back.  Unlike most IIIa patient I had no chemo. total nodal irradiation.  When it came back my doctors thought it was confined only to my neck and my oncologist believed it was safe to give me more radiation to just those areas.   I still have a lump right underneath my jaw which doesn’t seem to go away.  Even with direct radiation it doesn’t shrink very much which leads my doctor to believe that it is a salivary gland, possible damaged by all my radiation.  Has anyone else with Hodgkin’s had salivary gland lumps?

Response: