Monday, July 15, 2013

CT review with Surgeon

Based on the CT and PET scans, the surgeon does NOT feel that this requires surgery (which would have been a hip replacement). Still need to attack this before it gets to that point. I hope the radiologist agrees to treat it sooner than later.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Just a Quickie...

Oh yes, PAFF still in force.

I had a PET scan. Med Onc accepted it all as good news and sort of berated me for not being more excited. I felt that she hadn't even looked at the report before she walked in the room, and wasn't taking some of it seriously enough. That Monday I saw the Rad Onc, whose office I had given the head's up like she told me to in February, so that she could look at the scans before our appt. I don't think she had. She wasn't taking parts of it seriously enough, IMO. We did agree to do some xrays on my back to try and decide if the new compression fracture in the lower thoracic is causing my rib pain.

Rad Onc apparently looked at the scan and went over it with the reading radiologist after our appt. She called me (yes, those dreaded personal phone calls from the doctor!) the next morning after having done so.

Let me just say that here that the part of the report (which I picked up from the imaging center myself, screw waiting for the doctor to call) that had me concerned was....scary drum roll...lesions on the RIGHT femoral neck.Not wanting these to ever get out of hand like the left leg did, and also out of concern that even I know that the femoral neck is the narrowest part of the femur, I wanted to be ahead of this *)#(@-er, and I wanted my doctors to take it seriously.

Well, after 2 doctors being less concerned than I by the report of cancer in my right leg, Rad Onc reads the films WITH the reading radiologist on the phone with him re-reading it to her for his reactions...yep, they are afraid that this has ALREADY caused damage to be of concern. She added CT scan of the femur to the xrays of the back.

Had the CT and Xrays today. I can see in an Xray a compressed vertebrae. I can see in a CT scan which bone is in question in my leg. But that is it. She also has the Ortho Surgeon squeezing me in again. Never a good sign either.

Yes, this could be possible surgery. She didn't know what kind, she hadn't talked to the surgeon about it. He'll see the CT when I walk in his door with the disc in my hand bright and freaking early on Monday.

I could just swear! I really think this is new since the Dec PET, because I know she looked at both legs when she reviewed that one. Really, I'm trying to decide which doctor will be more receptive to swear words right now, because I really would like to swear about this in someone's office. I don't think that would go over too well with the psychologist, though thank goodness I am seeing him Monday afternoon, at which point I could very possibly have another surgery on my plate.

I am not even completely recovered from the last surgery. That was made worse by my rib pain, which I feel confident is caused by the compression fracture. And to remedy that...a surgical procedure (vertebroplasty) which I will apparently have to talk the doctors into. She said she was going to ask the interventional radiologists if they can do a vertebroplasty on a previously radiated bone, but I guess she didn't get that far after getting distracted by ME BEING RIGHT AGAIN!.

Ending this quickie (which really wasn't, was it) here and just please everyone swear for me, Or pray. With which ever you are more comfortable. Or both, but not at the same time.