Follicular Lymphoma in Mesentery

[Smileyman]

Hello

My doctor has told me the lymphoma has spread to lymph nodes in the mesentery ... I cannot see much about this so am asking if anyone has this condition, and if there are any special areas that need to be watched by me as a patient?

My initial biopsy was under my jaw, I now also have swollen inguinal nodes but my blood count is good and not yet needed a bone marrow biopsy. I'm on watch & wait, which suits me fine as I can push back the time for treatment until later.

Thanks!

[Shar0n Volunteer]

The mesentery seems to be a fairly recently rediscovered organ but I don't know much about it except that it's in the abdominal area. Newly discovered nodes are always unwelcome but we have to remember that we often have involved nodes that aren't yet known about because they are not visible or palpable except on scans. Nodes can go down as well as up and if we can focus on staying as well as we can, sometimes the same nodes can reduce by the next checkup. I have several in my neck which have remained stable for the past couple of years and another that goes up and down.

If they cause a problem by enlarging and interfering with another process, the doctor will advise action to reduce them in size or eliminate them.

Maybe someone with more experience can add more to this .

[mstrudde in reply to Shar0n]

Agreed with staying "WELL"... while this is hard to do, yet I'm saying it just the same. Invest your time and energy on good diet, nutrition, the best thoughts possible.... sometimes this is all so much easier said then done.... I'm only in my 40's, and was given a very grim diagnosis from my 1st oncologist. As an RN, I always advise a 2nd opinion. Lack of knowledge will defeat us all... but lack of willingness to acknowledge can only weaken us all the same. Don't give up hope of a brighter day. Remember to embrace each day one at a time. We are all SURVIVORS; we have many stories to share, people to meet, moments to embrace and hills to climb...

[Tinkerbellcgy]

I wonder if the mesentery is where my first occurrence of Follicular Lymphoma was situated. All that was ever said was it was in a tumour in a lymph node attached to the outside of the bowel. That was in 2008 and I was lacking in the experience that I now have where I would be asking many more questions than I did in the beginning. I will have to ask my oncologist next month when I am in for my check up.

[BelindaTupper]

Not 100 percent sure, but my doctor mentioned that too. He said generally the abdominal area looks "cloudy" in what he called the my sentry area on CAT or PET scans as the nodes are tiny, you can't normally see the individual nodes, and there are lots of them. When the nodes become affected they show up and are visible as individual nodes. They keep an eye out for the cloudiness to return....apparently that's the good part.