Hi Everyone,
So I met with Dr. Walsh yesterday to discuss my CT scan and my nodules. The test was pretty inconclusive so I’m meeting with my thoracic surgeon next week and he will ultimately decide what we’ll do about them. If he doesn’t think a biopsy is necessary then I won’t have one.
So I continue to wait.
But on a positive note, I have a few weeks off from chemo, which is a welcome break to say the least.
What do we know about these nodules (other than the fact that “nodule” is an unpleasant word—don’t you think?)?
We know they’re small
We know they don’t have any FDG uptake (which is the term used when analyzing a PET scan. Cancerous tumors have heightened FDG uptake)
We know my main tumor is smaller
We know it’s rare for smaller cancerous tumors (avoiding the word nodule!!) to not have an increased FDG uptake (did that make sense?)
We know my case hasn’t been typical from the start J
We know it could be an infection—I was put on an antibiotic just in case
We know it could be a side effect of chemo
So, while I can’t help think these new growths could be cancer there are a lot of indications that they could very well not be cancer.
I was so bummed out on Monday when I first met with Dr. Walsh that I didn’t ask a lot of questions. I kind of sat there and tried not to cry and just kind of spaced out and I remained spaced out for the next day and a half.
However, I snapped out of it yesterday and asked my usual question, “Am I screwed?” To which Dr. Walsh said “Not at all.” And he also does not think it’s time for me to shop for my casket.
So I did get my two big questions answered yesterday. J
If my nodules are cancerous then I will have to move to the next line of drugs which is another story for another day. There will be more testing on my original tumor to check my predicted response to a drug in the second line of treatment. I’m not going to get into all the new drugs and testing until I have to; I’ll spare you the details for now.
My biopsy, as I mentioned, will be fairly invasive in that they will have to make a small cut in between my ribs and collapse my lung to get a piece of one of these things. They are so small that I think Dr. Walsh said they’re about a half a millimeter—maybe…I can’t remember. Therefore I will be in the hospital for a few days so my lung can re-inflate and get working again.
That procedure will be the last week of the summer which totally bums me out. But look at it this way, if I’m stuck in a hospital room for a few days at the end of the summer, I can almost guarantee you that it will be hot and sunny!! J
I will keep you posted and let you know what the surgeon tells me next week.
Love,
Kim
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