emailed 11/10/15 (reposted here/more redundancy)
Hi there:
My apologies to those who have been
added to the list late (you only missed one email, don’t worry); this has been
a bit of a whirlwind, and I apologize for missing people on my initial email.
If you would like to be taken off this
email list, PLEASE
let me know. Alerting people one at a
time to what is going on was shaping up to be a hit or miss proposition; I am
just trying to make sure people who want it get all the same information (I
frankly don’t think I’m fast enough to keep up with individual texting/emailing
of this magnitude.) ;-)
But seriously, if you’re thinking, “Okay, well,
that’s a really fascinating email full of fun medical facts, I’ve got the gist
of it, now you can just take me out of the loop because I don’t have the mental
bandwidth to deal with your current situation through email”—I am TOTALLY down
with that. Just email me: “Love ya, but yeah…no.”
This morning, John and I saw the surgeon
to whom I was referred by the ENT. This
surgeon went through the CT scans of my lungs with me and explained why
specifically he does not think this tumor (no more general “mass” references
with this guy) is Valley Fever. The
tumor is growing at such a fast rate that the center is (okay, this is gross,
you can skip it, blech, except for you cool science peeps) “melting/dying”
because the speed of the tumor growth is outstripping the tumor’s ability to
feed it blood supply.
The tumor is 9cmx9cmx8cm (think
grapefruit)—it is situated very high up in the lung so that it is compressing
not only the vocal cord nerves but also doing a fairly robust job of squishing
(such medical jargon) the arteries to my heart.
No, I did not secretly take up smoking.
Yes, it’s the last thing I would have expected, too. Dumb luck. Perhaps I should play Powerball…
The surgeon feels the tumor is
aggressive, fast-growing, and he is expediting a PET scan and 2 biopsies (one
that requires some hospitalization/outpatient).
He has referred me to an oncology center (that has a great reputation)
for the PET scan. The PET scan will show
if the lesions on the liver are just random or signs of metastasized
cancer. The PET will also show if there
is anything else floating around to explain other random symptoms. (I’m just
pushing that one out of my head for now—too much to process, really.) The biopsies will allow doctors to determine
what kind of cancer cells these are, and from that point they will determine
the best course of action to treat the particular type of cancer: surgery, radiation, chemo, or a combination
of two or all. Surgery presents a bit of
a challenge at present because of the close, personal relationship the tumor
has with my heart.
I am still waiting for results of the
bloodwork on Valley Fever—I was hoping for a little optimism/wiggle room with
the surgeon on this, but from what he can see on the CT he does not think that
particular diagnosis is still on the table. Drat. I was still holding out for lesser of two
evils.
I will likely not send another update
until the biopsies and the PET scan results are in…I am under the impression
that perhaps all those can be completed by…Monday? Don’t know how long lab results will take,
but they seem to be pushing things through fast, so maybe I’ll get to jump the
line on that.
I’m doing okay, don’t worry. I’m freaked out, yes, but I also know people
(on this very email address list even) who have had the Big C and have had
successful treatment, so I know it’s doable.
So again, no news doesn’t mean bad news,
it just means we’re checking the boxes next to various tests as fast as we
can.
All the concern, good thoughts, prayers,
jokes, profane (yet hilarious) comments have been wonderful—it reminds me how
lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and to have such truly amazing
people to count among my friends. ;-)
Much love, Andrea
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