Wednesday, February 10, 2010

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The Fear of Ilness - NON-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

     Have you ever fear of getting a very serious disease? Well, I am. I am always afraid of being sick, of being futile, of being a burden to my love ones. It scared me to death whenever I feel something peculiar, something strange in me.

     Have you read my entries before, about me being sick? That I was once diagnosed of hypothyroidism and then later on it changed to TB Adenitis? I was so afraid of that time. I fear that having thyroidism I might undergo operation. That my throat might swell. Thank God it didn’t. Then when the test result said I was positive of TB? What the Heck, I didn’t sleep for 2 days until I learned that it was adenitis and the doctor assured me that it was not contagious, that it was different than the common TV.

     I became curious of different disease since then. That whenever I heard of an illness so alien to me I always look it up in Google and try to learn all I can get about the certain disease.

     I was reading a book one day and one of the characters there is said to have this certain disease I am not aware of, or rather, I don’t have much knowledge about. It is called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I don’t have any indication of what that is. All it said there is that it is some kind of cancer. And I gather from the word lymphoma that it may concern some lymph nodes. Just like the one I have before…TB Adenitis…that I am glad I am cured…^_^

     So I looked up at Mr Google and here are some facts I gathered about this non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma: Any of a large group of cancers of lymphocytes (white blood cells). Non-Hodgkin lymphomas can occur at any age and are often marked by lymph nodes that are larger than normal, fever, and weight loss.

There are many different types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These types can be divided into aggressive (fast-growing) and indolent (slow-growing) types, and they can be formed from either B-cells or T-cells. B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas include Burkitt lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, immunoblastic large cell lymphoma, precursor B-lymphoblastic lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma. T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas include mycosis fungoides, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and precursor T-lymphoblastic lymphoma. Lymphomas that occur after bone marrow or stem cell transplantation are usually B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Prognosis and treatment depend on the stage and type of disease. Also called NHL.

There are many different types of lymphoma.

Lymphomas are divided into two general types: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the lymph system.

Age, gender, and a weakened immune system can affect the risk of developing adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Treatment also differ in different types of lymphomas and the age of the victim.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in pregnant women is the same as the disease in non-pregnant women of childbearing age. However, treatment is different for pregnant women.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma can occur in both adults and children. Treatment for children, however, is different than treatment for adults.

    In my next posts will be more additional information about these disease. Parts or lymps that are mostly affected, diagnosis or signs, and treatments. So hold on and join me in learning this disease..^_^

1 comment:

jenskie said...

hi cath, yah i have so many fears including fear of getting ill.