For the last few years I have luckily been living like I don't have cancer at all! The watch and wait process was going well, and I no longer needed regular CT scans.
A couple of months a go however I got a new group of larger lymph nodes in my neck.
Over the last month I had a CT scan and recently met with my doctor to go over the results.
The size of the lymph nodes themsevles do not cause him alarm, however because the placement of them and the fact that I am having symptoms such as troble swallowing and fatigue he has recommended treatment.
The good news is NO CHEMO! Chemo is very hard a difficult and at this time not necessary. I will be doing Immunotherapy, more specifically Rituxan. Although Follicular Lymphoma is considered incurable, Rituxan dramatic improvement in response rates, and survival rates for many forms of B-cell lymphomas.
This type of targeted therapy is given as an infusion, which lasts several hours. This is done once a week fo four weeks. I will need to rest mostly and so I won't be working for a couple of months.
I plan on spedning a lot of time in a chair at the beach or in the yard :D
Here are some links that may explaine Rituxan more, I will be updating everyone on how it goes!
http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/follicular-lymphoma/?region=on
https://www.lymphoma.ca/sites/default/files/images/fl_patient-guide-booklet-english.pdf
