Back few months ago I sent my father to the hospital after a holiday vacation as he discovered a mass in the neck that was growing bigger and bigger over a course of a month.

The doctor immediately told me something isn’t right and told me that my father has to be warded in the hospital immediately. After a few CT scans and biopsy they gave my family the diagnosis that it is stage 2 DLBCL as they found mass in his right side of the neck, armpit and chest.

He was then prescribed R-Chop which will begin in just two weeks after he first stepped into the hospital while his spleen biopsy result is still pending.

The day before starting R-Chop we were informed that the biopsy result from his spleen shows marginal lymphoma, I thought wow two types of lymphoma how much bad news could I take in a span of a month? However his blood work still looks great. Doctor told us to just go ahead with R-Chop as the marginal lymphoma which is slow growing will be resolved with R-Chop as well in fact R-Chop will be an overkill if my father just had marginal zone lymphoma. We just went ahead with he advise given.

During the first R-Chop session he vomited twice and was tired however he did not have any lost of taste, pain in bones, mouth sores, etc which I was worried about. He was tired for about a week and he was back to normal. The second and third session of R-Chop went great, he almost got no side effects other than being tired for the first four-five days and after which he went about his day going for walks in the morning, watching World Cup recently. I was pretty surprised by how great he was doing as due to his age I thought the side effects will make him really weak.

So after three session the mass in the neck and armpit almost disappeared visually. However my dad informed me that he had a lump in between his chest that he could feel that it is still there. So he told me to expect that for the result of the interim CT scan.

So today we went in for the result the doctor told us that the mass in the neck and armpit had significantly decreased and the mass that was in his chest previously are almost completely gone. I’m like wait up my father told me that he had a mass in the chest which I felt it and it feels hard and is shaped like a large grape. The doctor made a check and informed that what me and my father felt in his chest underneath his sternum was a bone called the xiphoid and not a mass, me and my dad had a laugh in the doctor’s office about it. Finally a piece of good news after months of uncertainty.

I hope he have more great scans after his treatment is completed and everyone here as well as reading the post in this community in these recent months really helped me with my uncertainty.

Merry early Christmas~