Good News on most recent CT

donna_lee

I really can relate to all the fears, problems, etc. that you all are going thru. But just have to share that my CT came back OK. After having the initial surgery in 2006 and mets recurrences in 07 and 08, plus some really questionable CT's this past winter, I was ecstatic to get a clean report this week.
Altho I'm used to the routine, I still get a little grouchy a couple of weeks before the test and until I hear the results.
Soooo, for all you "newbies" around here, keep your hopes up and maintain a positive attitude. It does help!
Best regards to all
Donna_lee

dgilly

grouchy?
LOL! It has been 11 years and I still get grouchy also before CT time. It always is there in the back of your mind that they are going to find something! YIKES! I wish it would go away but it just likes to linger there.

Blessings,
dgilly

corey50

GOOD NEWS
dear donna lee,
congratulations on your good news. it does feel so good to get a clean ct scan. and after all you've been thru you deserve them, you're an inspiration to the rest of us.
wishing you many more and continued good health.
corey

triland

corey50 said:

GOOD NEWS
dear donna lee,
congratulations on your good news. it does feel so good to get a clean ct scan. and after all you've been thru you deserve them, you're an inspiration to the rest of us.
wishing you many more and continued good health.
corey

Congratulations
HI, Donna,

good to hear that.

smurfin57

Happy to hear about your CT results. I'm a newbie so I have a couple of questions if you could humor me? Does the Ct always show if there is more cancer? Does it show up as a spot? Do you know if an MRI is better or do they usually use a CT scan? My scans (CT, MRI)all came back normal except for the tumor.I hope to hear from you. Steve

donna_lee

smurfin57 said:

Happy to hear about your CT results. I'm a newbie so I have a couple of questions if you could humor me? Does the Ct always show if there is more cancer? Does it show up as a spot? Do you know if an MRI is better or do they usually use a CT scan? My scans (CT, MRI)all came back normal except for the tumor.I hope to hear from you. Steve

Q & A
Hi Steve
I'm not an authority, but since 2006, I have had a few tests...11 CT's, 1 bone scan, 2 ultrasounds, a PET scan, a biopsy...all in support of the 3 major cancer surgeries. In 2005,mine was at Stage IV and had already mets to the left lobe of kidney and a set of lymph nodes. It appeared again in nodes in both 2007 and 2008.

Let me use my previous 9 months as an example. I had a regular 3 month interval scan in January and the comparison with the one in late Sept. showed "Spot" in th lower right lobe of the liver. They decided to monitor with another CT in March. "Spot" had not grown, but there was something else that they wanted to see better, and thought it could be a hemangioma.
(We know them as big birthmarks on the skin but they can be on the inside, too.) Because they are highly vascular, the CT couldn't catch a good look because of the slice of the pixels and the blood/fill cycle of circulation. So I had an ultrasound, radiologists got a good look at it, and determined it to be an hemangioma. And was scheduled for a CT in May.
After that test, they pretty much determined that "Spot" was a cyst. The next CT was last month-Sept- and the cyst had not grown and was left with that definition -cyst and not a tumor.

In '07 and '08, the differences between my winter and May CT's both showed something that had not been there on an earlier CT. (They order chest, abdomen and pelvis, with/without contrast, and I drink barium sulfate during the hour before the CT.) In '07, the node was in a place they could biopsy (+), and in '08, it was not able to be biopsied so they ran a PET scan to confirm a mets plus to rule out any other mets growing. Whether they call it a spot, a hypodensity, and lesion increasing in size, a good radiologist will able to pick up the differences on two consecutive tests.

I think CT is the preferred test. It is cheaper than MRI. (Joke-my most recent was over $4600 just for the hospital test.) I can't have an MRI because of so many vascular clips that were used in all the surgeries, and the fact that in the first one, the thoracic surgeon had to put a mending plate between by ribs after going after my liver and gall bladder.

Hope this answers some of the mysteries and alleviates a few fears. After spending the previous 3 summers playing patient, it has been great to be "free" for 15 months. My next appt. with my oncologist is not until early Dec. and he'll probably schedule a CT for someting about March.

Sooooo, in the meantime, I go to work, play with the grandkids, garden a lot (play catch up for missing out on 3 years of weeding and planting), travel, and enjoy life.

Good luck and much success as you start what we hope is a very long journey after having had kidney cancer.
Donna