1st PET post treatment

Hi olybee

Normally I just wait and here what the doctor has to say about the PET scan and then question him from there. Also ask for a copy of the report so you can take it home and go over it, I use Google to help me understand a lot of what it is saying. Just make sure you are in one of the medical sites and not reading someone post about what they believe.

Will keep you in prayer for the report tomorrow

╠╣ONDO

just a suggestion
jot down all questions on a list before the appt. I asked the doctor if he minded if I taped the appt. because I would always forget or not be clear on something later. I used the recorder on my iphone and it works great.

Hope you get a great report!
Robin

olybee said:

1st PET RESULTS
I HATE CANCER!
That's now out of my system, so here's what I know. There's a hot spot in the same tonsil/lymph node area as pre-surgery/radiation PET. It is a horseshoe shape around the two biggest tumors. Dr. put scope down there and said it looks very irritated, but some tissue could be tumor, could be inflamed scar tissue, not sure. She then put her hand and finger down there, said it didn't feel like a tumor to her, and she's felt lots of tumors. So her suggestion is wait six weeks (unless something hurts or he feels he needs to see her.) At six weeks she'll see him again, scope & feel again.
Any comments? I'm SCARED. I want to run out and get another opinion, but I am just running scared is the truth. I am such a control freak, and I want to MAKE IT GO AWAY. Guess this is just a lesson to me that I cannot control everything. HELP folks. Caregivers out there, how do you do it? Cancer folks out there, how do you do it? I have such a new-found respect for all who do this battle. IT STINKS!!

Square one
I know how you feel. I am quickly learning that to expect definitive answers is simply too much to ask. My first CT scan post ChemoRadiation came back with a conclusion of, "We're Concerned." This resulted in the endoscopy and hands on exam with the ENT surgeon informing me that there was still swelling in my affected left tonsil primary, however he said that in cases of residual cancer there is almost always a visible "crust" or "cap" on the surface that looks very much like the radiation burns you find immediately after the last radiation treatments. The rest of the pathology report refused to rule our residual cancer in all but one of the treated nodes, resulting in a determination that I can consider myself back to square one and starting all over as if this were my first visit. You are now in the same boat and I can tell you it is a tough one to row after going through months of pain and anguish now seemingly for nothing. That said, the answer to your question, "how do you do it?" is a very simple one. When faced with no choice there are few things a human being cannot adapt too and over come. They just seem to be more amplified and fantastical when you're on the outside looking in. We're not doing anything special. We simply have little choice as we either deal with it, or allow it to deal with us.

You have good reason to be scared. If the first round of treatments fail your range of options are decreased significantly with median statistics for a chance of success becoming even less optimistic for the long term. I wish I could tell you exactly what works from this point, but I am just now entering into it myself. All I can say for sure is that I know what I have been though and I have no intention of doing it again, so, when my Biopsy results come back this time, I will just be prepared for the worst while praying for the best.

Best wishes to you,
Nick