The Results are in for the cancer!

I would like to write a report on all the things that have been going on medically with me since September.  But I do not have the energy right now.  So I will limit myself to my cancer. I have now had blood work, CT scan, PET scan, whole-body scan with radioactive iodine.

Today I met with my doctor.  I was nervous about this meeting because my doctor had given me a 45-minute block of time instead of the normal 20.  I tried to calm myself by saying that when they made the appointment they did not have the test results yet, so he did not have reason to think I would need more time.  Turns out I was right and wrong.  He had given me the larger block of time because he expected to have bad news and would need the larger block of time.

The results, however, proved him wrong.  The whole-body scan showed nothing.  I do not know if I agree with that — I saw the scans while they were being taken and could clearly see a lot of uptake.  But people who know how to read these things say what I saw is not important (although I have not seen that in the five other scans I have had).  So that is good.  No sign of normal papillary thyroid cancer.  In fact, my doctor told me that we are going to stop giving me the whole-body scans unless something changes.  I was very glad to hear that, as it takes three weeks (this time five) to prepare for and have the test.

He also thought the PET scan was good.  Well, at least it was not bad.  The scan showed no sign of the hot spot we saw last year in my esophagus.  But it did show, for at least the third time in a row, a hot spot in my thyroid bed.  But that spot does not appear to be growing, and so we are going to leave it alone for now.

Here is the problem.  The fact that this spot appears on the PET scan and not on the whole-body scan means that it has mutated into a form of cancer that uses sugar to survive instead of iodine.  That means that the treatment options are few for it, and it also means that the chances of survival are very small if (and when) it decides to start growing.

But although this is very small — I think he said 6 mm — it is not in a good place for surgery.  In fact, the surgeon has told me that if she has to go back in there, it is likely that I will lose the ability to speak.

So the plan: wait six months and have some blood work done.  Then we will decide if I should have a PET or CT, and if we should do that then or wait till fall.  The problem, once again, is the doctor has given me a 45-minute block of time for my next appt (in Oct 2012).

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