The Good and The Bad of Follicular Lymphoma

Karen Cohn is a retired middle school special education teacher who was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in July 2020. Catch up on all of Karen's blogs here!

My CT scan, which I get annually at this point, four years after I was officially declared NED (No Evidence of Disease — remission, which is not the appropriate medical term for cancers such as the one I was treated for, follicular lymphoma, which is considered treatable, but chronic and incurable), has come and gone. The report from the radiologist contained the magic words: “No signs of recurrence.” The bloodwork all came back within the normal range, except for one immunoglobulin factor which was normal three years ago and has been slowly dropping since, for no reason anyone can discern. I don’t get sick more often than anyone around me, and I recover at least as well as others, so there are not concerns about it at this point, but it’s something to watch.

There were other issues, in particular a cluster of lymph nodes in my right lower abdomen that have been present and stable for at least 18 months, which the most recent radiologist chose to mention, whereas the last two radiologists did not — why, there’s no way to say; my oncologist opined that I had a better, or at least more conscientious, radiologist this time around. Possibly connected, I have a uterine fibroid in the same general area as the stable cluster of enlarged nodes — so off to the gynecologist I go, or at least as soon as I reach that magic 12 months at which my insurance will pay for my next exam, which is in April.

Then there were the issues related to aging, most notably diverticulosis, small pockets in the wall of the large intestine, not inflamed, for which the recommendation is to eat more fiber, which led to a discussion of when my next colonoscopy is — not until 2028, thankfully, so one less thing to worry about in the near future.

There were other things, none of which are causing any problems, and which are typical of middle-aged women. There was a reminder of my upcoming mammogram, which I’m not particularly worried about, but then, I wasn’t expecting to have cancer five years ago either; since cancer treatment itself increases the risk of other cancers, it’s off to get squished I go, in about a month, to an appointment I made last August, because they’re still backed up from the pandemic.

Overall, it was a good checkup. Nothing new — which is awesome — and nothing significant in the things that aren’t new. Time to come down off the scanxiety high and relax a bit, at least until the next time — but at least the next visit, in six months, only involves blood work.

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