CT Results

Friday April 24 I had chemo and met with Dr. Howard for my CT results. We sat down in a room and she told me the CT was clear. She spoke about all the areas the cancer was in, mentioning the throat/mediastinum area again. I questioned her about this since my primary doctor never mentioned the area but the Radiation Oncologist did. We went over the radiology reports together. So I asked her if it was possible that this was the cause of all of my breathing problems and not asthma. I told her that I hadn't been taking my asthma medication for about three weeks. She found the concept "interesting" and told me that she was going to meet with the radiologist to check on the lesions on my lungs because he didn't mention them in the report, and that she would get back to me after she sat down with him.

While she was gone, I sat down in my recliner and started the chemo process. I was a bit nervous about the lesions on my lungs. If they were gone that would mean that they were cancerous. If they were the same size as my original scans, that would mean they are just scar tissue. My mind was cranking thinking about being diagnosed with asthma and I tried to remain calm but something inside of me knew that I was right.

During chemo Dr. Howard came back and told me that she sat with the Radiologist and the lesions are the same size. She then told me that they found a "thickening" around my right lung in the original scans that is now gone. I told her that my Pulmonologist told me that the "thickening" was a pleural cap and nothing to worry about. She nodded and repeated that it is gone now and that she and the radiologist think that it was lymphoma around my lung which would make me a Stage IV cancer instead of a Stage II. She told me she was going to call my Pulmonologist to see if there could be any other explanation for it disappearing, but I could tell by her voice that she was pretty sure there wasn't.

Of coarse the Pulmonologist was on vacation that day so I had to wait until Monday for him to call her back. I called her on Monday and she talked to him, but he wanted to to look over all of my scans before giving her an answer.

On Tuesday April 28 Dr. Howard called me with the news that my Pulmonologist agrees that it was lymphoma around my lung, making me a Stage IV. Stage IV just sounds so scary, but all it means is that the cancer has spread to multiple organs. Dr. Howard assured me that the treatment was working well. So what did this mean for me? It meant SEVEN more cycles of chemo instead of three. It meant that in March of 2008 when my breathing problems started and I had that x-ray that I had cancer - cancer that went untreated for almost a year before we found it even tho I was at the doctor many, many times before that. I was devastated and irate and even now I still have a huge chip on my shoulder about it and a general distrust for anything a doctor says...except Dr. Howard.