My friend has had the following symptoms, starting about 7 weeks ago:

Painless swollen glands on the left side. They are about 1 cm in width and run from ear to shoulder (7-8 weeks) - ???

Severe headache (2 weeks) - meningitis?

Severe photosensitivity (2 weeks, decreased recently) - meningitis?

Severe vomiting (2 weeks, decreased recently but possibly due to anti-nausea meds) - meningitis?

Night sweats/night fever (for the past 2 weeks) - ???

Severe swelling of the face (past 5 days) - ???

She has been hospitalized twice for this and currently remains in the hospital from the last entry. They believe she has meningitis (viral, hopefully) on top of something else that has caused her immune system to be compromised.

She has tested negative for lots of things (TB included), and all we're waiting on is the biopsy (which was last Thursday). She has had an MRI, a CT scan, a spinal tap and numerous blood tests. Her current WBC is low (2.4 is the number that comes to mind).

She is being treated with IV antibiotics on a daily basis in the event that the meningitis is bacterial.

Any ideas? We are all at our wits' end with this and are praying for the best. It is hard to stay optimistic when they tell you that the results won't be in for 2 weeks!

Thanks,
Girl

Hi, I hope your friend is feeling better already. Symptoms you are describing are those of meningitis, however, it's much more likely it's viral kind, because, frankly, bacterial is very r**** and although it's curable you can't really be well for 2 weeks with bacterial meningitis, without immidiate medical help.

those **** is for r-a-p-i-d I have no idea what's wrong with that word ;)
Those symptoms you ask for (photosensitivity, vomiting, headache) are not associated with lymphoma by the way. Most of us have viruses and bacterias that cause meningitis in our body, and I believe medicine still has no answer why some people ocassionaly get it. It may be from some specific reason (some other underlying illness) but very often happens without any "visible" reason. I have a friend that had bacterial meningitis, fought with it for a long time, but before was completely healthy, and is now also completely healthy after it.

The suspiscion was that she was suffering from lymphoma AND meningits. The meningitis symptoms have subsided, but the lymph node swelling, night sweats, and swollen face remain.

Yesterday our suspiscions were confirmed when the biopsy came back positive for lymphoma.

That's all we know now. They will work on staging and treatment options today.

I am sorry to hear about your friend. Do you remember what the CT or MRI scans showed? These normally give a pretty good indication of the stage that the lymphoma is at, and should show any abnormalities in the neck and chest. Remember that lymphoma is a highly curable form of cancer, but they may want to wait until the immune system has recovered from the more acute infection before beginning treatment.

The MRI, I believe, was normal, but it was only on the head. Today they're doing the full body scan and the bone marrow test.

Her acute illness seems gone...all that remains are the lymphma symptoms (night fevers/sweats, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue).

When will these symptoms stop, specifically the night fevers/sweats? Not until after treatment begins?