New PET/CT results–one unknown

Well the good news is that did not find any definite cancer. This is the baseline PET/CT after my liver surgery this past November.

The unknown is the following:

Abdomen/Pelvis Impression: Interval right hepatectomy with an new 1 cm focus of increased metabolic activity within the medial segment left hepatic lobe adjacent to the falciform ligament in a suscapular location with an SUV of 4.6 compared to background liver activity of 3.8. This area is midly heterogenous on CT. Metastatic disease cannot be excluded. Further evaluation could be performed with MRI of followed with repeat PET/CT.

My medical oncologist is not that worked up about it, especially since he thinks it's in the area that the liver surgeon removed a lipoma during surgery (he thinks it could be scar tissue). So the liver surgeon and he and the rest of the tumor board will look at on Tuesday. My medical oncologist will call later that day. At the very least I will be having a repeat PET/CT in 3 months instead of just the CT. My CEA is 1.2, down from 1.6 a month ago. My other blood work is unremarkable (liver enzymes within normal ranges.)

So those are the facts. Needless to say, I've been up and down on the roller coaster of emotions. I would totally have preferred a perfectly clean scan, but it ain't bad. My medical oncologist was wonderful in how he handled it all. He straight off said that he didn't know whether to be worried or not about what the scan showed, then proceeded with a physical exam, kept on talking about lots of other things, then some more about decisions to be made, and by the time he finished the exam I was calmed down enough to hear him and go look at the scan. The power of a caring touch is amazing. He also said "well, you feel normal, and you look great". Bless him.

So by the time hubby and I drove the 5 hrs back home from Salt Lake City, I was exhausted. However, slept through the night and am doing OK at work today. I'm so appreciative of my caring and supportive fellow colleagues and supervisor.

Thanks also to you all here. I've learned a lot by reading the posts, and so I knew that dealing with stage 4 cancer is a process even if you are NED (which technically I still am until proven otherwise.)

Oh and by the way for any who would like to know, A PET scan takes 3 hrs with 1.5 hrs in a room sitting quietly, alone though being monitored :-), while the radioactive glucose makes its way around our body. The scan itself takes 45 minutes. I don't know why I had forgotten all that other than to blame it on the fog right after diagnosis when I had the last one done. I also am reminded that you've got to ask exactly what's going to happen in order to avoid these surprises, especially when the stress meter is already pegged out.

Also, if you wear a jog bra(for the ladies)and T-shirt type top you can keep iton during the scan. No skimpy little hospital gown. I did have on hospital pants but no biggie. Oh, and socks keep your feet warm in that cold room.

Leslie