Hi Rikki   I'm 60.  My daughters both liked my head bald but I didn't.  Shaving it was partly symbolic but also for comfort.    I have a ton of scarves and turbans to donate to my cancer care unit once my hair gets a little longer.  I have no intention of holding onto them "just in case".   My hospital has been farming out a lot of stuff to private providers so I didn't need to wait long for interventional radiology.  I hope you're able to get the angiogram done soon.  The constant waiting for tests, then waiting for the results wears you down. ... View more

Hi   It's not at all surprising to me that someone with an autoimmune disorder would have enlarged lymph nodes.  They're our body's first line of defence against things our immune system perceives as foreign. In the unlikely event that you actually did have lymphoma, it would have to be an indolent type.  Aggressive lymphoma doesn't go this long without getting dramatically worse.  Indolent lymphomas are simply watched and treatment is only given if there are signs of transformation into a more aggressive form, so not only is it very unlikely that you have lymphoma, even if you did treatment wouldn't be warranted at this stage. ... View more

Hi Rikki I finished my radiotherapy on Monday and now it's waiting time.  I won't really know how successful it was for a couple of months, but there's a 90% chance of it giving me a cure. I'm sorry to hear you're having unrelated health problems.  It seems so unfair at times, doesn't it? I'm mentally exhausted at the moment but I'm hoping that being able to focus on things other than my health over the next couple of months will alleviate that. I shaved my head when I finished chemotherapy and my hair is now about 4cm long.  It's too short for my taste but the little hair I had left was in very poor condition from treatment and not worth keeping.   I hope the cardiologist is able to sort you out so you can get some relief from the chest symptoms.   Take care.   ... View more

Hi Rikki Just wondering how things are going for you now and whether your symptoms have eased. I finished radiotherapy yesterday so I hope I can finally get stuck into the house and the garden before Christmas rolls around. ... View more

I'm on a number of cancer forums and from what I've seen on other forums, oesophogeal cancer isn't particularly rare.  There could be something about your husband's particular presentation which makes it rare, though. Did your husband have chemotherapy before and after surgery, and if so what kind?   As you appear to be in the US, it may be difficult for us to give you much useful information as our healthcare system is very different to yours. ... View more

I also have lung cancer in my lower left lobe which was discovered incidentally during scans for another primary cancer.  I'm still immunocompromised from chemotherapy for the other cancer so I'm having SBRT for the lung cancer. I can understand your apprehension about what lies ahead.  I had a positive result on the home bowel screen test a few years ago and a colonoscopy revealed three pre-cancerous polyps.  I'm due for another colonoscopy, as well as a mammogram, next year and after having two separate cancers diagnosed this year it all seems a bit much. Good luck with your continuing recovery from the lung surgery.  Make sure they refer you for pulmonary rehabillitation. ... View more

Hi Cienna   I have a single tumour in the lower lobe of my left lung.   They will do a CT at 6 weeks post treatment, but that's to check that there are new nasties.  The first CT to evaluate the success of SBRT will be done at 6 months.  I'm due for a CT to check on my lymphoma around the same time so I will probably have a single scan to check on both.   I don't think people realise how many appointments precede treatment.  I had 8 appointments with 4 different places prior to starting treatment (it would have been more if I didn't have recent bloods and a PET) while treatment itself is only 4 sessions.   I had the option of surgery, so that will remain available to me if this treatment doesn't work.  Options for the future will depend on the exact nature of any relapse.  My radiation oncology registrar and I were talking about it the other day and new treatments are becoming available every few months at the moment, so there is good reason to be optimistic that there'll be a range of options should I relapse. I hope that the MDT is able to come up with a treatment plan you're happy with and that you're able to start treatment soon.  The workup period seems to drag on forever, doesn't it? ... View more

Hi Cienna   I had the first of 4 SBRT sessions for the mass in my lung yesterday.  I have 2 next week and then 1 the following week, then it's a waiting game to find out how well it's worked.   The lung mass isn't a relapse.  I actually have two different types of primary cancer.  The lung cancer was almost certainly present prior to the lymphoma.   I feel quite well.  I'm just a bit tired.  It's been a long year and once this treatment is over I'm hoping to have a couple of months of my life not being dominated by medical stuff. I'm sorry to hear about your relapse, and also about your vision problems.  I hope your team are able to find solutions to both.     It all gets a bit exhausting sometimes, doesn't it? ... View more

I have a lung function test booked for mid-January. I assume that once the radiotherapy team s finished with me, they will refer me back to the lung clinic for follow up. As I will require regular CT scans for both the lymphoma and the lung cancer, someone will need to co-ordinate a single scan being used to evaluate both to reduce my radiation exposure. ... View more

Hi Rikki Scan results were fine and treatment will start in about 2 weeks.  The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur between tests and appointments, but it's all locked in now and all I need to do is turn up on treatment days. ... View more