[Alicia]

My cousin is 40 and has non-hodgkins lymphoma. The grown-ups in my life don't like to keep me informed and refuse to answer my questions about this kind of stuff. He went to another city (we live in a rural community) about 5 hours away for 3 months! What is going on, and what are the odds he will make it out alive?And I think it's the lymphnodes in his liver / intestine area.

[midnightmoon62]

I am going to guess he is going through a hematopoetic stem cell transplant, which is a fancy term for a bone marrow transplant. It is dangerous, but people live through it every single day. I did the transplant for a different disease about a year and a half ago. If this works, he will be disease free.Try to sit down with your parents and explain that while you may still be a child, you are capable of under standing. Ask them if he is going through the bone marrow/stem cell transplant.

[sylviahogan]

LymphomaNon-Hodgkin's LymphomaSigns and SymptomsDiagnosisTreatmentTreatmentThe treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma will vary according to the specific sub-type of lymphoma.Patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma undergo an extensive evaluation that may include:A general history and physical examinationMultiple blood testsX-raysA bone marrow aspiration and biopsy procedureA lymph node biopsySome slow growing lymphomas, called indolent or low-grade lymphomas, may not require any initial therapy, and the doctor may decide to wait until the disease causes symptoms before starting treatment. Often, this approach is called"watchful waiting."That said, the majority of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma will require treatment at the time of diagnosis. Treatment usually consists of chemotherapy, although some patients may receive radiation therapy, or a combination of these treatments. In some cases, bone marrow transplantation, biological therapies or surgery may be considered.ChemotherapyChemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma usually consists of a combination of several drugs. Patients may receive chemotherapy alone or in combination with radiation therapy.Chemotherapy usually is given in cycles: a treatment period followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period and recovery period, and so on. Although most anticancer drugs are given by injection into a blood vessel (through an IV), some are given by mouth. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment because the drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body.The most common therapy used for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is called CHOP and consists of four different chemotherapy medications. The medications are given through an IV and by mouth for five consecutive days. This is then repeated every three weeks for six to eight cycles. Usually, chemotherapy is an outpatient procedure, which mean it can be given at the hospital, at the doctor's office or at home. However, depending on the patient's general health, a short hospital stay may be required.Radiation TherapyRadiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, is the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Treatment with radiation may be given alone or with chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is local treatment, which means it only affects cancer cells in the treated area. Radiation therapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma comes from a machine that aims the high-energy rays at a specific area of the body. There is no radioactivity in the body when the treatment is over.Stem Cell TransplantsAt UCSF Medical Center, stem cell transplantation, also called bone marrow transplantation, is offered to all patients with recurrent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The type of stem cell transplant will depend on a number of factors including:AgeCurrent symptomsResponse to prior treatmentsThe availability of a donorThe majority of patients will undergo an autologous stem cell transplant, which uses one's own stem cells. People are encouraged to consult with a stem cell transplantation doctor to learn more about non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, including treatments and stem cell transplantation.Stem cell, or bone marrow, transplantation refers to the administration of high-dose chemotherapy followed by the infusion of stem cells. If the stem cells are collected from the hip bone, the procedure is called a bone marrow transplant. If the stem cells are collected from the blood using a procedure called leukapheresis, the procedure is called a peripheral blood stem cell transplant. Today, most transplantation procedures are performed using stem cells that have been collected from the peripheral blood.Peripheral stem cell transplantation is a method of giving high-dose chemotherapy and then replacing the blood-forming cells destroyed by chemotherapy with healthy stem cells.Transplantation may be:Autologous -- using an individual's own blood cells that were saved earlierAllogeneic -- using blood cells donated by someone elseSyngeneic -- using blood cells donated by an identical twinBiological TherapyBiological therapy, also called immunotherapy, is a form of treatment that uses the body's immune system, either directly or indirectly, to fight cancer or to lessen the side effects that can be caused by some cancer treatments. It uses materials made by the body or made in a laboratory to boost, direct or restore the body's natural defenses against disease. Biological therapy is sometimes called biological response modifier (BRM) therapy.Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplants to Treat LymphomaBone Marrow Transplants (BMTs) and their cousin the Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant (PBSCT) are moving from the clinical trial area to mainstream treatment for many cancers, including Hodgkin's Disease and Medium/High grade (a

[Lou Lou]

A stem cell transplant is a difficult and dangerous treatment, but if this is the only option then it must be taken.I am assuming that your cousin has been battling lymphoma for some time as this type of treatment is what happens when chemotherapy and radiotherapy has failed and the disease has either never gone away or has come back.Unfortunately I cannot comment on non hodgkins, I know more about Hodgkins and the two, although similar in many ways, are quite different to treat. What I know about stem cell transplants and hodgkins is this; it is a difficult process, painful and frightening. Your cousin will have been away for quite a while because he would have had to have been in isolation because the process of the SCT (stem cell transplant) would have'killed'his immune system so that he would not have been able to cope with the bacteria in the outside world. Even now that he is home everyone will have to be very careful around him and it will take about 6 months to one year for him to feel normal and have energy like he did before. He will have lost all of his hair through having very high doses of chemotherapy and he will have lost quite a lot of weight.But the good news is that he will improve and continue to improve as each day passes. I do not know the odds of being cured with non hodgkins, but with hodgkins a SCT has a cure rate of about 50-70% depending on age, health and stage of lymphoma. So the odds of him coming out of the SCT are very good. What I cannot answer is what are the odds of the lymphoma returning and that I cannot answer. Neither can your parents, nor the doctors. For now though, do not worry, I am sure that the doctors at the hospital he is at or has been in have looked after him very well and your family will continue to do so once he returns home.Understand that your parents are trying to protect you and are scared themselves. They do not want to burden you with the worry that they themselves are carrying because this is a very uncertain time for all of you. You can look up the process of a SCT, there is some good info out there and it will reassure you that your cousin will be debilitated, but ok after the SCT. He may be tired and not want visitors, but that doesn't mean anything, he's just recovering.I am sorry that your family are going through this right now, I hope that I have been able to reassure you in a little way. If you need any more info or reassurance you can e mail me privately. Hope and prayers for you all.