And the winner is…

Wow, what a day, with a wild variety of stuff, some of which even had to do with my lymphoma.

But let’s stick to the topic. Dr. Robb called me about 1:30PM today and told me the biopsy results were back, which was surprising and fantastic, since my first oncology appointment was scheduled for 2:45PM, so the results would be available for that.

So the winner is a Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). That’s what the meatball is. So now that we know what it is, we get to start getting rid of the bastard, right?

Well, almost, but not quite. My oncologist, who has been great so far, explained to me a wide variety of things about my diagnosis, but mainly that we’ve got another step to determine stage. In case of DLBCL, stage is a geographic term. If the meatball is localized to the area of the meatball, then that’s stage I. If it’s spread but is still contained above my diaphragm, that’s stage II. If it’s found below my diaphragm, that’s stage III. If it’s made it to my bone marrow, that’s stage 4. Stage determines the number of chemo cycles I have to do.

There’s also bulky and non-bulky, based on the size of the tumor. That will determine if I have to go through radiation or not. Based on the size of this thing hanging off my neck, I’m betting on radiation, too.

So to find this out, I get to have a PET scan, a CT scan, and a bone marrow sample taken. Also, just for laughs, I also get to be tested for hepatitis B and C, since apparently those are commonly found with this type of lymphoma; and have an ECG to get a baseline of my heart health before they start chemo. Oh, and I have to take chemo class, which is scheduled for next week.

I came out of oncology feeling like I’d been steamrolled, at some level. So much to do, and so much information in one session. On the other hand, it’s good to be moving forward.

On another note, the hole in my neck is still weeping fluid, which is really gross, so I get to go visit Dr. Robb again Thursday instead of Friday to have him look at that.