"When an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.." - Rosalind Russell

October 26, 2010

PET Results

I got the PET results yesterday and I am happy to report that it found no other tumors except the one near my bladder. Nothing around my intestines, lungs, organs, etc. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Surgery is still on for the 10th of November...

October 16, 2010

PET Scans

Clink on the link below to better understand how it works and the rationale for use

What is a PET scan?

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

PET Scan for Cancer, Alzheimer's, Heart Disease A PET scan allows physicians to measure the body's abnormal molecular cell activity to detect
  • Cancer (such as breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, lymphoma, melanoma and other skin cancers),
  • Brain Disorders (such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and epilepsy), and
  • Heart Disease (such as coronary artery disease).
PET scans are simple, painless, and fast, offering patients and their families life-saving information that helps physicians detect and diagnose diseases early and quickly begin treatment.
PET scanning and molecular imaging provide real life answers to better diagnose illness, guide treatment options, and give patients ultimate control over their critical and vital health care decisions.

Here we go again


It's back.

The Facts:

I got a CT scan and it showed a 3.5x3.5 mass above, behind, and to the right of my bladder. I knew it too. A couple of weeks ago I started having some bladder problems- I noticed that I was going to the bathroom a lot, and when I had to pee it was NOW. Also I was having problems completely emptying my bladder. I was hoping it was a urinary tract infection but I had no pain and it seemed to last for weeks. Actually now that I'm writing this I remember that back in August at the end of clinicals, I had really wanted to steal a urine strip for a urinalysis. I should have because then I could have ruled that out. Oh well, lots of "should-haves". What's also frustrating is that at my last appointment my doc felt a mass but because I reminded her that I had a fibroid, she assumed it was that. She actually thinks that it may have been there all along, and she had originally thought the mass was connected to my uterus- now she felt that it was separate.

What's weird is that my CA-125 drawn last week (tumor marker) was even lower than before, at 9. So now we know that it is not an effective marker for my kind of cancer- this is bad news because it is much easier and safer to draw blood rather than subject my self to radiation all the time. Now there is no real good way to monitor the progression and whether treatments are working.

So now what?

1.) Surgery. She wants to schedule it as soon as possible but this month she is fully booked. So she talked to her scheduler to fit me in sometime in the next few weeks. The first available was November 1, which I considered for awhile and then changed my plans. It may sound crazy to you, but Halloween is my favorite holiday and I have so many parties and events planned already for the weekend. Plus, my best friend is flying in from SF for all the fun. Do I really want to spend the day of Halloween doing a bowel treatment and drinking only clear liquids? Hell no. Even if I spent that day at home, I wouldn't want to go under the knife after a weekend of binge drinking. This may be a life of death situation, but I'm choosing to live my life. This thing has been there for months already- how much is it going to matter to delay it a week or so? Now my new date is November 10.

2.) Further lab tests. For some reason I haven't gotten a CBC or metabolic panel recently. I wonder how my platelets are because last time they were really high which puts me at risk for clotting. Also, I've been pretty dizzy when standing lately- more than usual. I wonder if I'm anemic?

3.) More scans. With my exceptional ability to work the system and the thanks of my very understanding doctor, I got her to authorize a PET scan through the SCCA's charity care program. My Basic Health insurance refuses to pay for them, as well as the charity care which has helped with so many other bills. This is the test she wanted to run initially. The scan is ideal for finding other areas of cancer in the body, superior to MRIs or CT scans. By doing this scan, I would know the extent of the cancer and whether to do the surgery to remove the bladder tumor, or to just go ahead with other treatments, i.e. chemo. Basically, she was saying what is the point of taking out one tumor when my body is full of them :( She did reassure me though that ovarian cancer rarely spreads beyond the abdomen and the CT did not show any other tumors.

This is the plan for now, because everything else depends on the results of the PET scan which is scheduled the 23rd of October. Now it's just planning again for yet another year of my life battling this thing