LOL ... for serious
Nov. 20th, 2012 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
genlisaeSoooooo, I cancelled my radiation therapy yesterday. And if your jaw just dropped you probably had about the same expression my oncologist did. I think she stammered for a full minute. The results of the last PET scan I had were "interesting". Back in July I had that ovarian cyst which hurt like hell but hasn't been an issue since.
Turns out I still have it.
And it is bigger.
19 cm (7.5inches for those who use that system) now. (Holy fuckscicles! How does something that large hide in my lower abdomen without me being aware of it??!!)
Also turns out that in hindsight they can see it on the PET scan I had in April, they just didn't know they were supposed to be looking for it at the time. So now I get another doctor added to the team in the form of a gynecological surgeon! Which makes it a GP, a neurologist, a neurosurgeon, a respirologist, a thoracic surgeon, two oncologists, and a gynecological surgeon (which I am now just going to call GS because my fingers trip over that word like a drunken hurdle racer). I am going to start making them all little club badges. It will be fun.
It also turns out this is not normal behaviour for an ovarian cyst. Not unheard of, but not "normal" so now that needs to be looked into and if it turns out to not be a cyst that changes the whole plan of attack for treating the cancer.
See why I cancelled the radiation therapy? Okay, actually it was more like postponed indefinitely. I am already up to 14 CT scans (random fun fact! A CT scan has the same level of radiation as about 150 chest x-rays ... and I have had more than a few of those as well) in the past 3 years, plus the two doses of radiation for the PET scans. I am not a doctor by any means but even I know this is starting to get to the ridiculous level on how much radiation a person can reasonably be exposed to without having some serious side effects 20 years down the line. So lets not go for a round of radiation therapy for my lung only to maybe have to turn around and do it again for something else.
They can, should they need to, be treated at the same time with less overall radiation and chemo, so a delay of a few weeks or even a few months is not going to be that big a deal. It is certainly no worse than the delay from July to November that happened when I somehow got lost in the system. I don't think it will be that long though, since the appointment with the oncologist was yesterday, when she made the referral to the the GS. I got the phone call today telling me my appointment with said GS is for Thursday. Plus back in July, my GP (which sounds really weird to call her by the way, around here she is just Emily. Is everyone okay if I just call her Emily from now on? You will know who I am talking about now? Yes? Good.) was concerned that it may not be just a cyst and ordered a full range of blood work to screen for ovarian cancer. She even googled (not joking! It was awesome!) to make sure she had included all the markers for ovarian cancer. That blood work came back negative, which, had the cyst been there only the few days we had thought it was, is possible those markers were just not present in concentration. As we now know, looking back it was there in April. Chances of the markers just not being present in July? Round about none. So while I am fully expecting to at least have to have the cyst removed, I would be surprised as hell if it turned out to be cancer.
Actually, no I wouldn't, not anymore at least. Not after spending 2 years being told I didn't have lung cancer.
On the up side, Mr. Lumpy's (I am told naming your cancerous tumour is not the most mentally healthy thing a person could ever do. I figure if it is going to have as much impact on my life as it has, and there is only more to come, it can damn well have a name. I also plan to have a memorial party when it is gone. Everyone is invited!) latest pictures show less than 2mm growth over the past 6 months. I like results like this. I will like it even more when Mr. Lumpy's next pictures show he (totally a he, just saying) shrunk.
I will like even more than that if I can have a scan of some sort some time to check on the progress of one thing and not have another discovered. That would be the awesomest thing ever.
Turns out I still have it.
And it is bigger.
19 cm (7.5inches for those who use that system) now. (Holy fuckscicles! How does something that large hide in my lower abdomen without me being aware of it??!!)
Also turns out that in hindsight they can see it on the PET scan I had in April, they just didn't know they were supposed to be looking for it at the time. So now I get another doctor added to the team in the form of a gynecological surgeon! Which makes it a GP, a neurologist, a neurosurgeon, a respirologist, a thoracic surgeon, two oncologists, and a gynecological surgeon (which I am now just going to call GS because my fingers trip over that word like a drunken hurdle racer). I am going to start making them all little club badges. It will be fun.
It also turns out this is not normal behaviour for an ovarian cyst. Not unheard of, but not "normal" so now that needs to be looked into and if it turns out to not be a cyst that changes the whole plan of attack for treating the cancer.
See why I cancelled the radiation therapy? Okay, actually it was more like postponed indefinitely. I am already up to 14 CT scans (random fun fact! A CT scan has the same level of radiation as about 150 chest x-rays ... and I have had more than a few of those as well) in the past 3 years, plus the two doses of radiation for the PET scans. I am not a doctor by any means but even I know this is starting to get to the ridiculous level on how much radiation a person can reasonably be exposed to without having some serious side effects 20 years down the line. So lets not go for a round of radiation therapy for my lung only to maybe have to turn around and do it again for something else.
They can, should they need to, be treated at the same time with less overall radiation and chemo, so a delay of a few weeks or even a few months is not going to be that big a deal. It is certainly no worse than the delay from July to November that happened when I somehow got lost in the system. I don't think it will be that long though, since the appointment with the oncologist was yesterday, when she made the referral to the the GS. I got the phone call today telling me my appointment with said GS is for Thursday. Plus back in July, my GP (which sounds really weird to call her by the way, around here she is just Emily. Is everyone okay if I just call her Emily from now on? You will know who I am talking about now? Yes? Good.) was concerned that it may not be just a cyst and ordered a full range of blood work to screen for ovarian cancer. She even googled (not joking! It was awesome!) to make sure she had included all the markers for ovarian cancer. That blood work came back negative, which, had the cyst been there only the few days we had thought it was, is possible those markers were just not present in concentration. As we now know, looking back it was there in April. Chances of the markers just not being present in July? Round about none. So while I am fully expecting to at least have to have the cyst removed, I would be surprised as hell if it turned out to be cancer.
Actually, no I wouldn't, not anymore at least. Not after spending 2 years being told I didn't have lung cancer.
On the up side, Mr. Lumpy's (I am told naming your cancerous tumour is not the most mentally healthy thing a person could ever do. I figure if it is going to have as much impact on my life as it has, and there is only more to come, it can damn well have a name. I also plan to have a memorial party when it is gone. Everyone is invited!) latest pictures show less than 2mm growth over the past 6 months. I like results like this. I will like it even more when Mr. Lumpy's next pictures show he (totally a he, just saying) shrunk.
I will like even more than that if I can have a scan of some sort some time to check on the progress of one thing and not have another discovered. That would be the awesomest thing ever.
