STAGING

Stage I .

Cancer is found in only one lymph node area or in only one area or organ outside the lymph nodes.

Stage II.

Either of the following means that the disease is stage II:

Cancer is found in two or more lymph node areas on the same side of the diaphragm (the thin muscle under the lungs that helps breathing). Cancer is found in only one area or organ outside the lymph nodes and in the lymph nodes around it. Other lymph node areas on the same side of the diaphragm may also have cancer. In contiguous stage II cancer, the positive lymph node areas are next to one another; in non-contiguous stage II, the positive lymph nodes are not next to each other, but are still on the same side of the diaphragm.

Stage III

Cancer is found in lymph node areas on both sides of the diaphragm. The cancer may also have spread to an area or organ near the lymph node areas and/or to the spleen.

Stage IV

Either of the following means that the disease is stage IV:

Cancer has spread to more than one organ or organs outside the lymph system. Cancer cells may or may not be found in the lymph nodes near these organs. Cancer has spread to only one organ outside the lymph system, but lymph nodes far away from that organ are involved.

Return to DIAGNOSIS

SYMPTOMS

It is difficult to decide what are the symptoms of MCL as experienced by the patient. Often those which cause one to go to a doctor in the first instance are in fact what might be termed "secondary symptoms" .For example, infections consequent on damage to the immune system. What then are the "primary symptoms"?

In order that we might arrive at an answer it would be useful if MCL sufferers post to PapyRonnie@aol.com an account of the symptoms which caused them to go to a doctor in the first place and which led to the tests which resulted in the diagnosis of MCL.

The information you provided will be represented in the table below by figures in the appropriate column. If known please state which form of MCL you have. If the symptom that cause you to go to your doctor is not shown in the table it will be added. It is appreciated that some diagnoses resulted from medical investigations when another illness was being treated.

Vera Bradova at her MCL website reported:

"Typically at diagnosis patients show small disseminated swollen lymph nodes, their health is good (known as "good performance status"), and there are few or no clinical symptoms. Mild anemia is fairly common, but thrombocytopenia (low platelets) is rare.

A number of patients have reported lower back pain, and burning pain in legs and testicles for several months to a couple of years prior to diagnosis. Sometimes, diagnosis is preceded by recurrent infections. " As the disease advances patients may experience Fatigue, Anemia, Low grade fevers, Night sweats, Weight loss, Rashes, Digestive disturbances, Chronic sinus irritation , Sore throat , Shortness of breath, Muscle and bone aches and Recurrent infections

NOTE  Although I have provided columns for the three main variants of MCL I have become aware that few patients are told which one they have. Perhaps this is because treatment is much the same for all. Also there does not appear to be agreement among doctors about prognosis for each variant. This means that the only valid statistic is that in the Total column Ron

 

SYMPTOM	BLASTIC	DIFFUSE	NODULAR	NOT KNOWN	TOTAL
Allopecia				1	1
Anaemia		1	1	1	3
Breathlessness	1	2	1	9	13
Bruising		1	1	3	5
Burning pains				3	3
Cramps	1	6	2	3	12
Deafness		3	1	1	5
Digestive disorders	1	3	2	5	11
Eustachian tube blocked by tissue				1	1
Excessive reaction to insect bites		1		4	5
Fatigue	3	11	3	37	54
Fevers	2	1		6	9
Headaches		1	1	4	6
Impaired vision			1	1	2
Loss of appetite	1	3	2	4	10
Minor infections		4	1	6	11
Mouth ulcers		2		2	4
Nausea & vomiting	1	1	1		3
Night sweats	3	8	1	20	32
None - routine check or during treatment for other condition		5	2	36	43
Painful joints	1	7	1	5	16
Pain due to undetected  swollen nodes	1	2	1	19	22
Rashes & itching		4	2	14	20
Severe eruptions (Face & head)		1		3	4
Shingles		1	1	1	3
Chronic sinus infections or colds	2	10	1	8	21
Sore tonsils			1	2	3
Stomach disorder& internal bleeding	1	4	1	7	13
Swollen lachrymal or saluivary glands				3	3
Swollen lymph nodes	10	19	5	77	111
Swollen spleen	2	7	1	24	32
Weight loss	2	4	1	1	201
Number of participants	239	18/8//2001

Note:  several of the above symptoms are those of chemical overexposure 

Note:  Swollen organs, spleen, pancreas, gall bladder, testicles, liver.... have been reported multiple times among the workers of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup

Painful joints, as well!  Did you know that rheumatoid arthritis can be caused from an immune imbalance?  Workers of EVOS and even a child born to a worker (when the child was 9 years old) have come down with rheumatoid arthritis.  There is also such a thing as a rare cancer of the joints, such as Robert Urich had

Causes of MCL?

Per a Valdez native, as of 1995 there have been 890 natives who worked on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup who had died.  Altogether there were 11,000 workers

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