Lymphatic System & Lymphoma

The Lymphatic System

The lymphatic system consists of lymph nodes (or lymph glands) and lymphatics (the small vessels that link the lymph nodes). It returns excess fluid to the circulation and helps fight infection and cancer.

The lymph nodes (which generally occur in clusters in the neck, armpits, and groin) produce some white blood cells and antibodies that help protect against infection. The right lymphatic duct and the thoracic duct drain lymph fluids into 2 veins that come together to form the inferior vena cava, which passes into the heart. The cisterna chyli is a widened portion of the thoracic duct, where fluids from several lymph-collecting vessels are received. The spleen removes and destroys worn-out red blood cells and helps fight infection.

Lymphoma (Definitions here)

The sixth most common cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphomas affect 300,000 Americans. In the fast-moving treatment environment, all but super-specialist MDs find it hard to keep abreast of changes that affect the treatments and lives of NHL patients. This book helps those living with this disease to participate in wise treatment decisions, as well as to cope with tests, treatment side effects, and other practical issues.

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas:
Making Sense of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Options
by Lorraine Johnston, Linda Lamb
Paperback (1999)

The author, Lorraine Johnston, 1998
The only patient-friendly book on non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Prior to publication of this resource guide, no book on the market targeted the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor’s need for understandable information. While there are medical texts on the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas
as well as inspirational first-person accounts from survivors of related cancers such as leukemia, between these two sources of information existed a considerable information gap.

In straightforward language and in a format that anticipates the reader’s questions, this book addresses diagnosis and its emotional tumult, finding the best oncologist, the theories and practical aspects of treatment, characteristics of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, side effects and long-term effects of treatment, medical tests and procedures, and prognoses.

Other topics of interest examined are coping with hospitalization, stress and its effects on the immune system, sexuality and fertility after treatment, how to interact successfully with medical personnel, and getting support from family, friends, employers and the broader community. The end of successful treatment and its sometimes surprising effects on one’s emotions are covered in a separate chapter, as is the experience of relapse and ways to select second-line treatment to regain remission. Clinical trials of promising new therapies grounded in Western medicine are covered in depth. The theories and experiences of marrow transplantation and stem cell support are surveyed. Two frank chapters on recordkeeping, finances, insurance, employment issues, traveling for care, and finding free treatment are included.

Throughout the text and in several appendices, the reader is referred to other books, websites, and organizations that can provide more detail on a given topic.  This book is intended for both newly diagnosed and long-term survivors of the non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, their caregivers and loved ones, and for medical personnel who interact with survivors of the non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.

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Dancing at the Edge of Life: A Memoir
by Gale Warner, David Kreger, Bernie Siegel, Gayle Warner
Hardcover (1998)

For anyone who's had a loved one die from cancer, Dancing at the Edge of Life will hit home and hit hard. After a pesky cough drove her to the doctor's office, 30-year-old poet and writer Gale Warner was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a viciously malignant form of the disease.
She immediately started to record her often extraordinary thoughts in a diary. When she passed away a little more than a year later, she had compiled 1,000 pages of her spiritual and physical illumination and desperation, from the ecstasy of living through a good day to the excruciation of a bone marrow transplant.

What makes this book remarkable is Warner's perspective through it all.  Though not particularly religious, she endured her treatment with Job-like patience, fortitude, and grace, reasoning that with each setback -- and with each victory -- she ought to be able to unveil a life lesson, to become closer to the spirit of the earth. She also perceived her bone marrow transplant as a ritual reincarnation of sorts. While her earth-goddess philosophy may strike some readers as being too far out in left field (she writes of feeling as if she's a channel of sorts for the pollution and destruction of the land), her love of the earth and perception of her role on it is extraordinarily thought provoking.

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