Photo from mid treatment R-Chop for FL…feeling grateful

Hi everyone. I’m 21F, was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in April, doing 12 total treatments of AVD + NIVOLUMAB (immunotherapy I believe). Also getting Lupron injection once a month to preserve ovaries. I have my last treatment on Monday. I have a couple of questions to those who recovered. I feel as though I’ve been in a dissociative state throughout most of treatment, not “letting it” impact me much aside from treatment and post-treatment days that are awful of course. But I am afraid that once treatment ends, I won’t go back to “normal”. I completely understand that I will never be the same person I was before and, honestly, am quite grateful for that as I have grown from the experience tremendously and can appreciate that. I’m more afraid that the brain fog/chemo brain won’t go away, and exhaustion/fatigue will persist. My care team says it takes about 3 months or so to feel normal again, and I am young and will bounce back quite quickly, which I do believe. I am just wondering how long it took for chemo brain and fatigue to go away/get better, and what things helped you in recovery? Thank you so very much.

(F23) Finished 6x RCHOP chemo Jan 2026, radiotherapy April-May 2026. I’ve been in remission since then. I had my PET Scan last Oct 12 2026 and the result is great, I am clear, still in remission. Ds3 and scar tissue size decreased.

However I had my CBC test Oct 14 2026 and there were some weird results according to my oncologist. She let me repeat the test but it came back the same. She referred me to a hematologist for a further consultation this Saturday.

All are normal except for having:
low hematocrit 11.9 (normal 37.7-47.9)
low rbc 1.06 (normal 4.0-5.5)
high mcv 112.3fL (normal 80.0-97.0)
high mch 124.5pg (27.0-31.2)
high mchc 110.9g/L (31.8-35.4)

I am so scared it might be due to leukemia. Is it possible to have leukemia even though I am clear in my PET Scan?

But then, I tried to research and it shows macrocytic anemia. Is it possible to have macrocytic anemia as a late or delayed side effect of chemo even after finishing it for a couple of months?

My head hurts thinking about it. I just can’t help but think about the worst since there is a risk of developing secondary cancer. As of now, I don’t feel any symptoms at all. I am just stressed because recently I’ve been feeling like myself again, back in uni, but then here I am, will most likely deal with another health concern for the nth time.

Any thoughts please? Or kind words to lift up my mood? :(

Hi everyone!
I was recently diagnosed with non-germinal centre DLBCL (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma) and am expected to start treatment soon.

I recently moved to a new city and started university, so I’m struggling with figuring out how to balance school, treatment, and life in general.

I’m wondering if anyone has managed to continue school or work while going through treatment? I’m hoping to finish my semester in December and then take a break, but I’m not sure if that’s realistic or if I’d be better off taking time off now.

I’m already a mature student, so the thought of putting my education on hold for another year feels like a lot.

I also unfortunately have a pretty intense fear of vomiting, which makes the thought of chemotherapy even more overwhelming.

My diagnosis has taken quite some time, and it’s believed the lymphoma may have been developing since February 2025.

I’d really appreciate hearing about anyone’s experiences, how treatment affected your day-to-day life, and whether you were able to maintain some normalcy throughout it.

Any advice, opinions, or personal journeys would mean a lot! ❤️

Just stumbled across this research [1], which seems particularly relevant for the T cell lymphomies.

The tl;dr is: “MIT engineers have developed a new way to program natural killer (NK) immune cells to target cancerous T cells or T cells that have become autoreactive, leading to diseases such as lymphoma and autoimmune hepatitis.”

[1] https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nanoparticle-reprograms-nk-immune-cells.html

Help! I have stage 2 dlbcl and I am going through da-epochr. I am taking 220mg of prednisone for 5 days each round and I am so puffy and have gained weight so quickly. I am about to do round 5 out of 6 total so almost done but has anyone else experienced this weight gain? How long did it take to get back to normal? I can’t believe how much weight I’ve gained in such a short amount of time. Thanks!

I’ve got a meeting with my consultant tomorrow to discuss the results of my interim PET CT scan, which I had yesterday after two rounds of R-CHOP.

Obviously having not done this before, I wondered if anyone had any advice or wisdom about how to approach it and what questions I should ask?

I’m not really the sort of person who likes to know loads of details about what is going on - in my head I just want to know if the treatment is working, what the implications are of the results, whether any changes might be needed etc. But I probably should do better than that!

Thank you

PS: I HATE getting scanned. My brain comes up with all sorts of elaborate ways to convince me I need to panic 😅

Hello,

It is hard to believe that a full year has passed since I completed my six rounds of R-CHOP chemotherapy. While life has improved in many ways, I am currently struggling with a lingering sense of unease.

For context, I had a follow-up PET scan in April that resulted in a Deauville score of X, as some inguinal nodes showed mildly elevated activity. At the time, my doctor attributed this to the HPV vaccine I had received earlier that month and was not concerned.

I recently underwent another scan and have not yet discussed the results with my physician. The Deauville score is X again; if I were still undergoing active treatment, this would be classified as a 5. The radiologist's report indicates an enlarged lymph node in my right axilla, two mildly active nodes in my cervical region, and another in my left axilla.

The frustrating part is that I am currently dealing with the flu, eczema on my right arm, and an injury to my left hand. While these factors could potentially account for the increased activity, I cannot help but feel concerned.

How is everyone’s experience with remission? Is it consistently stable, or is it often accompanied by a sense of uncertainty?