many questions

Hello everyone.  My name is Debbie and I have Stage 3b colon cancer.  I was diagnosed June 2011, received chemo and have been doing fairly well since...tiredness never goes away.  I just recently had my six month CT scan and will have to have another one in 3 months because of some enlarged lymph nodes.  I was hoping some of you could help me make heads or tails out of my report..it reads:

 

Retroperioneal adenopathy and mesenteric adenopathy have developed

portacaval node demonstrated which measures 1.8 cm

multiple enlarged left para-aortic and tneraortocaval nodes have developed extending caudally in the left para-aortic area to just above the bifurcation

Mesenteric adenopathy found in left upper midabdomen.  No adrenal esions demonstrated

I know we don't rely on what we find on the internet but everything keeps referring to lymphoma, so I was hoping someone might could help on this board.

My CEA over the last 9 months has gone from .01 to .09 to 1.3, I know that is still in the normal range but it is moving up. 

 

Thank you all for any thing you can share with me.  My aunt battled B Cell non hodgkins lymphoma for about 10 years before it finally won.

 

Thank You!

 

Comments

  • anliperez915
    anliperez915 Member Posts: 770
    Hi Debbie

    Hi Debbie,

    I don't have any info for you but just wanted to let you know you are in my thoughts! Hope it turns out to be nothing to worry about,

    sending lots of positive energy....I'm sure somebody else will drop by and offer some info :)

    take care

    Sincerely,

    Liz

  • COBRA666
    COBRA666 Member Posts: 2,401 Member
    Lucky Girl

    Debbie,

      Like Liz, I do not have any answers right now. I try to keep up with the Lymphoma info as much as possible without going to the websites. I was wondering if they are saying the colon cancer has gone to the lymph nodes or they are thinking you now may have Lymphoma on top of the colon problems.

      I do not have B-cell,but had follicular (remission 9/2010). How long ago was your Aunt diagnosed with B-cell?  They have come a long way in the past few years. John

  • Rocquie
    Rocquie Member Posts: 868 Member
    Debbie

    I hope you find the answers you are looking for. Did your doctor not go over your CT results with you? Or is more of a case that you get home and read the results yourself, that questions you didn't know you had at the time, pop up. Happens to me all the time.  You can always call your doctor for a more thorough understanding.

    And have you posed your questions at the colon support boards? While the language you post is very familiar to me, I don't know if some of those terms are unique to lymphoma, or if they refer to other cancers as well. 

    I am happy you are doing so well after your chemo. I still get tired easily, but it is nothing compared to what is was.

    Best of luck to you.

    My prayers and (((hugs)))

    Rocquie

     

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    Terminology

    Debbie,

    As you no doubt learned from your experiences with your colon cancer, doctors speake a "specialized Greek" (actually, more of a Latin), which takes some time to digest. 

    "Adenopathy" refers to any abnormality in a lymph node, regardless of whether it is caused by infection or cancer.  The most common, and easily detected form of nodal abnormality is size -- enlargment usually equals a problem, although for most people, the problem is just an infection.  When the radiologist reads your CT or PET scan, he will usually measure the nodes, and give the size in metric (cm or mm), which is what the numbers are.  Over repeated sacans, they will compare the size of these selected nodes, which gives a direct indication of whether a disease is progressing (getting worse) or remissing (lessening, or moving toward remission). 

    All of the other terms you provided above refer to location:  they describe where the node is in your body  ("mesenteric" refers to the "mid-gut" area, for instance).  It sounds like the writer is describing several nodes in the mid-abdominal section, in the area of the small intestines.

    A good bookstore, in the Refernce Section, will have medical dictionaries in paperback.  Many do not cost much, or of course you can look terms up at quality sites like Web MD on the internet. And there are even specialized medical dictionaries, such as those specifically for anatomy, etc.

    But, your doctor should always be ready to explain these things to you in plain English.

    Please let us know what they determine. Only a biopsy can positively determine what is wrong with the nodes, or if they are cancerous or not.

    One other thing: a cancer is always classified by where it originatedTechnically, therefore, if colon cancer got into some lymph nodes, that would still be colon cancer, not lymphoma. The same with breast cancer and all other cancers:  breast cancer which has spread to a lymph node is not lymphoma, it is breast cancer in a lymph node.  Of course, a person can have more than one type of cancer at once, although that is (fortunately) very rare. This is why biopsy is critical -- it identifies exactly what the disease is, and different cancers require differnt chemotherapy drugs and treatments.

    I wish you the best,

    max

    .

  • Luckygirl2
    Luckygirl2 Member Posts: 308
    Thank you!
    Thank you for your responses! I get a tad bit paranoid! I try to dissect the report to no avail!
  • COBRA666
    COBRA666 Member Posts: 2,401 Member

    Thank you!
    Thank you for your responses! I get a tad bit paranoid! I try to dissect the report to no avail!

    Disecting reports

    Debbie,

      Do not feel bad about reading the reports over,under,sideways and down as well as inside out. I do the same thing. I must read it at least 10 times and then go back and pick out certain parts to disect. We are talking about things that are unknown to us and never seen or heard before.  I read something on a report once and it worried the hell out of me until I talked to my Dr. and he said,"Oh thats nothing,  it's just a fancy way the new radiologist likes to word things." He may have got his jollys off, but it scared the s#it out of me. John