Pelvic soft tissue mass on CT

Afoste3

Hi everyone.  I'm here to support my mom (Stage IV UPSC).  I've gotten so much good information from the posts, so I wanted to add in case anyone else has a similar situation.  A little background--cancer was found last May, surgery in July (everything out including omentum), optimal result.  6 rounds carbo/taxol done in December 2020, CA-125 down to 4.  We did icing (which I learned about here!) so no neuropathy thanks to all of your wise advice.

There have been scans every three months, so far all good except for few small lung nodules that are being watched.  The last CT included language about increased pelvic soft tissue in area of hysterectomy, concerning for local recurrence.  Although she has been scanned three times since surgery, this has never been noted.  A pelvic MRI was done to get a better idea of what's happening.  Apparently that is the better imagaing techinque for soft tissue if this comes up for others.  The results are in and it looks to be ok--what was identified was tissue on the vaginal cuff left from the surgery.  It has been there since the surgery and has not changed.  Recommendation is continued monitoring as part of her 3-month CT scans.

Long and short, it seems like so much depends on who reads the scans.  Apparently the prior readers did not find this noteworthy.  I was very worried when I saw this, but it seems like it is ok.  Just another example of how this journey includes lots of unknowns, and you really need all the info before you can tell whether something is "bad".  So I'm posting in case anyone has something similar pop up to let them know it could turn out ok.

Have a great weekend,

Anne-Marie

 

cmb

Scan results

Anne-Marie,

Glad to hear that your mother is doing well after treatment, despite the recent scare about the soft tissue. And it's great that her doctor is watching her so closely so that anything that pops up can be addressed right away.

You're right about scan results. Different radiologists don't all use the same terms or flag the same conditions.

A funny story about one of my CT-scans. I had just had an old tooth silver filling taken out and replaced the day before one of my scans. The scan report read "There is a small metallic density posterior to small bowel loop in the right abdomen as seen on image 83 of series 2 . This appears new."

We were puzzled until I realized that I must have inadvertently swallowed a bit of the silver filling that was now showing up on the scan. Needless to say it was gone by the time I had another scan.

TeddyandBears_Mom

Anne-Marie, Thanks for

Anne-Marie, Thanks for posting about your mom. You never know when that information will help someone else. So glad to hear that she is doing well.

CMB - that is hilarious.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi