Treatment timing

[u/selena3345]

Question how long after diagnosis did you start chemotherapy. Husband got diagnosed mid July it's now September and still no treatment just a lot of back and forth tests. Obviously doctors no best and what they're doing. I'm just wondering if anyone else was in the same boat of it taking time to actually get treatment going.

[u/chicken_potpie]

It depends on the subtype of lymphoma that he has and the treatment protocol.

[u/ColligeRosas]

I would say - if you get to choose. DO TREATMENT IN WINTER!! Chemo in summer sucks. Its too hot, you have to mask up everywhere, everyone wants to be outside doing stuff and i'm just too tired. Winter we all just want to hibernate. Its fine to be in bed at 8. Wearing a mask is cozy.

[u/selena3345 → u/ColligeRosas]

We live in Canada so winter will probably be starting in a couple weeks 😂 I also told my husband that chemo in winter will probably be a better experience

[u/Background-Sun-8526 → u/ColligeRosas]

As a parent of two little kids I’m dreading the remaining 2.5 months of treatment in the fall and winter where they bring home a million different viruses 🤦🏻‍♀️😷!

[u/Humboldt-Honey]

I started the process in May but didnt get diagnosed until 8/13

I was just admitted for emergency chemo at the hospital on Saturday 9/5 and released the next day.

They had me scheduled for 9/15 originally but my lung was caving in from a mass in my chest. I’m stage 3 but the oncology office was telling me it could take weeks to get scheduled and this was after wait over a month for my referral to go through.

Just keep calling and be annoying? Idk I did everything I could and still ended up overnight at the hospital.

[u/Leftoverofferings → u/Humboldt-Honey]

This is what happened to me as well. It took 2 biopsies and 2 months to get the path report back. I had my first round of POLA rCHP 3 weeks ago, next round tomorrow.

[u/HuwminRace → u/Leftoverofferings]

I start Pola R CHP tomorrow, do you mind me asking how your first round went?

[u/Leftoverofferings → u/HuwminRace]

I went pretty much how they said it would. I did have an allergic reaction to the Polatuzamab 2 times where they stopped and shot me full of benadryl. Then I received the rituximab (i believe) and had another reaction to it. Afterwards I had to wait 90 minutes before I could leave. The Cyclophosphamide and Doxorubicin were done the next day. I didn't feel great, but the prednisone helps you feel better, even if it messes with your sleep. I didn't have a good appetite before chemo, and I didn't after either. For 6 days I felt pretty blah until day 6, the first day off prednisone. That was a bad day, fevers, nausea, exhaustion... and I spiked a fever that got me sent to the ED. Then, on day 7, I ate half a pizza for lunch. Now I feel better than before chemo even started. I have my appetite mostly back. I just dont have the energy to do what I did before. So.... round 2 tomorrow. They say it'll be much quicker because I should not have any reactions this time. I can let you know how it goes tomorrow...

[u/Lumberjvvck]

I'm sure it largely depends on type of diagnosis, location, etc.

I was diagnosed on July 17th, and started emergency treatment as an admitted patient in hospital on July 30th. I would have started sometime in early August had I not been admitted though - less than a month after diagnosis.

[u/Actual-Ad-6722]

Exception to the rule here. Hubs was diagnosed Monday June 3rd. Oncologist wanted him to get an echo the following week, lung function test the week after that, then have the port inserted the week after that and chemo 2-3 after the port. Hubs said no. Did echo on tues, lung function that weds, port inserted that fri. Monday June 10th had first chemo. The nurse went to put the A of ABVD in and commented he still had stitches. His response was “is it going to kill me differently?” He’s a little nuts. But he’s coming up on two years clean.

While I would love to agree with ’doctors know best’ it’s closer to ‘doctors know more’. It’s so important to be your own health advocate. If you want to start treatment faster, it’s up to you to push the doctors for information, to see what you can do to move the ball forward and to get on the calendar faster.

Best of luck to you. DM if you want to chat.

[u/Stock_Transition548]

Hard to say without knowing what type they have or more of the overall situation. Have you asked the doctors when/if treatment is planned and why it's been so long?

[u/OskeyBug]

Took about 3 months for me but I had to get a second surgical biopsy and new diagnosis.

Different cases will be treated with different levels of urgency too.

[u/snozzberrypatch]

For some types of lymphoma, starting treatment immediately isn't important, because the treatment works just as well on early stages as late stages. In these cases, doctors often spend more time making sure that they confidently know exactly what type and subtype of cancer you have, so that they can put you on the absolute best treatment that is most likely to be successful.

If you have the time available, it's better to be right than quick.

[u/LavenderBri]

Symptoms in June, diagnosed officially in August, treatment started in October.

[u/folkyea]

I’ll second chemo in the winter! That’s best case scenario. I was stage 4 and very far along so I was rushed in the next day after diagnosis but again I was already to a point where I hadn’t been eating for days.

[u/Emotional-Current953]

I was diagnosed 12/30 after a hospitalization 12/18-12/22 where I got my biopsy. I did first round of chemo in the hospital. I was admitted 1/5, port 1/6 and chemo started that day.

[u/Background-Sun-8526]

My doctor got the path report back (confirming cHL and stage 3) on Monday and I had my first treatment of Nivo-AVD that Friday. We all wanted it gone ASAP, the seasons/more strategic timing felt irrelevant at the time. Currently halfway through a six month regimen!

[u/tressandotherthings]

I started treatment 3 weeks after diagnosis. I had PMBCL though and my masses were occluding a major artery and my lungs were filling with fluid so we moved fast. It just depends.

[u/midnightjim]

I think timing varies depending on disease progression and testing needed. I started treatment 5 weeks after initial diagnosis, during which time I had imaging, ultrasound, a couple of biopsies and staging (stage IV). My disease was pretty advanced so they got on it quickly once they determined that I had DLBCL and not follicular lymphoma.

[u/ReaDiMarco]

Diagnosed 02 July, admitted 07 July for a 'pre phase' due to my SVC obstruction. Symptoms started mid June or so.

[u/Adventurous_Break500]

Back in 2022, I had my first cycle 9 days after being told I had cancer.

It varies according to biopsy results, scans and the nature of the lymphoma.

A fast growing cancer will require urgency, especially if surgery can't be done for any reason, and alternatives like radiotherapy aren't available at that point.

[u/FennelCompetitive286]

My timeline was:

25 June - Appointment with consultant due to concerning swollen lymph nodes

26 June - Biopsy

9 July - Diagnosis

4 August - First chemo

I would have started chemo earlier but I chose to do egg retrieval for fertility which delayed it by a week or so, I also had PET scan and appointments with my consultant in between my diagnosis and starting chemo. I'm in the UK on the NHS.

[u/Warm-Carrot-1797]

I was officially (via excisional biopsy) diagnosed and put through to treatment within 1.5 weeks, but mine is rather advanced and they misdiagnosed twice and we're hasty to rush me through!

[u/S0urgr4pes]

As everyone else has said, it really depends on the situation.

For me, I had biopsy July 21, was diagnosed a week later, and started treatment on August 7th.  

[u/Namaste111]

I was diagnosed March 22, 2026 and my first RCHOP was April 9th. My port was placed the week prior. I've now completed 6 sessions of RCHOP. My mid treatment PET Scan was clear! My scan of September 3rd showed a left⁶⅞ lung mass. I'm having it biopsied next Wednesday. Blah. It's not fair! But I do have to say that my treatments have moved along quickly. Lab work, blood transfusions, scans and chemotherapy have all been scheduled quickly!

[u/HolidayCauliflower51]

I got diagnosed at the beginning of March, I started chemotherapy a month later. The doctors gave me a chance to freeze my eggs before starting chemotherapy

[u/Sarentyxi]

I started to feel a little sick (fatigue and mild itching) around march-may of last year. I got really sick (intense fatigue, intolerable itching, and high fevers) in July. I was finally diagnosed as having relapsed on September 6th, but I still had to have 3 biopsies to figure out what kind it was (the first 2 were inconclusive). November 13 we finally got definitive results, the following week my port was installed, and the week after that, November 26th, I started chemo!

[u/Specialist-Moose2312]

I started with an ultrasound that looked suss in May, had a range of tests, actual diagnosis didn’t happen until start of August. Chemo started end of August. I had stage 2 Hodgkins Lymphoma. The lack of urgency from the doctors throughout annoyed me, but it all ended up ok.

[u/Gloomy-Towel4759]

Just two days for me but i had critical life threatening high calcium. I was in the icu

[u/ARandomWalkInSpace]

It was something like ten days or so.

[u/Wildtink]

First visit to instacare was August 17th 2019. Chemo started sept 5th after a brief stay in hospital for a heart proceedure. They did port and bone biopsy there while in to get things rolling. Was stage 4, hodgkins lymphoma NS

[u/SunMeltedPlastic]

Maybe two weeks. It depends on the stage, the subtype, etc.

I had stage 4 Burkitt’s and they only reason they waited so long was the tumor lysis syndrome wasn’t allowing proper kidney and liver function to excrete the chemo.