So, first things first. The CT scan still shows a 6cm mass/growth/tumour/abnormality (apparently these terms are all interchangeable). It has an uneven edge which suggests malignancy. It doesn't appear to have got bigger or changed since the last scan. That is what we know.
They now want to sample the mass (yes, I thought they'd already done that too) as hitherto they have only sampled the fluid. All the samples of the fluid have come back negative (this may be a good sign though).
I had the biopsy of the mass done the same afternoon (i.e. yesterday). It was a simple needle in the back using ultrasound to guide the doctor. Results will be available next Friday when I have another appointment to see Dr Bailey.
He would also like me to have a PET scan. The observant among you will recognise this as something my mother had a few months ago when she had to travel to Cardiff as there wasn't a machine in Swansea. There are 2 machines in Manchester (one at MRI and one at The Christie) and another in Preston for those interested. This will hopefully take place before next Friday (he's marked the referral urgent) but it can't be guaranteed. At this point DD (yes, she's back - more on that later) had a go at him about the amount of time this is all taking. He agreed it was less than ideal but the issue was that they fully expected the fluid to show signs of the cancer and so that was the road they went down. It was unusual to find no trace of cancer in the fluid. The PET scan is a whole body scan which will pick up where the cancer has spread throughout my entire body. I would have thought they'd have done this right at the outset but there you go. Perhaps its really expensive or something. If there's a big delay in getting this scan done then I'll consider getting it done privately.
So that's pretty much where we are on the cancer front. I'll obviously let you have more when I have more.
I asked about the scan of my abdomen (because of all the pain I'm in) and he said he'd had a quick look at it and couldn't see anything but he hadn't had the report from the radiologist yet (the scan had only been done that morning don't forget). Apparently my liver looks fine though. DD expressed some scepticism on this point and I see where she's coming from... :-) The report will have been completed by the time I see him next week. In the meantime I just have to put up with the pain and take the painkillers. Not very satisfactory as sometimes all the painkillers combined don't help (e.g. last night). Not sure why its worse at night.
Will see what the report says and then ask for a referral to the hernia guy. Looking on the internet, painful hernias can be dangerous and so I wouldn't want to leave it too much longer. Of course it may be nothing to do with the hernia - perhaps the cancer has spread to my stomach. Personally I think that would be too much of a coincidence and would have expected him to pick up on this on the CT scan. But the PET scan should cover all this. Will also see my GP as I'm going to ned more morphine. Hope he doesn't kick up a fuss about that (addiction issues and all that).
Moving on... DD has returned. Rested and refreshed from her trip to Sri Lanka. And I am now the proud owner of one beautiful little silver buddha statue and also of two less attractive buddha statues (bought as somewhat of a joke). However, not wishing to miss the opportunity for any cosmic help going, I have put all three up for the moment. I suspect only the silver chap has a long term future though (always assuming I have a long term future!).
It was really good to see her after all this time and it means my parents can go home knowing that I'm in safe hands (although to be fair there are so many pairs of safe hands out there helping me, its almost unbelievable!). Its probably time we all had a break from each other anyway.
The Aged Ps took DD and Lesley out for a meal last night and, judging by the state of them when they returned, multiple bottles of wine were consumed. Think it did everyone good though and was probably a good idea that I didn't go as it allowed them to discuss me more freely.
And that's where we are as of today bunnies. I had a dreadful night so will again be looking to take it easy today and hopefully catch up on some sleep. J x
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