Chest tube is out! Confusing biopsy pathology

It has been a crazy week of medical appointments. On top of my constant fatigue (most likely caused by the thyroid issue), the collapsed lung seems to have made the fatigue worse. My body is using up energy it didn't have enough of to do the repair. And the pain wears me down too. We thought the tube could come out yesterday, but I still had a small pneumothorax. So I had to go back for another chest x-ray today. I've kind of lost count of them, but I think since Friday today's makes #10. Today's was the winner! I was able to get the chest tube out. Some of the pain was due to the tube, so that is better. Some is due to the lung puncture and the irritation it caused to the pleural cavity, and the irritation the tube caused their too. I'm just happy the dang thing is out!

I also had a thyroid ultrasound today. And I went to nuclear medicine to get my radioacitve iodine pill. Tomorrow I go back for the uptake testing and scan. And tomorrow afternoon I have to go see my oncologist. He said last week he didn't need to see me again before chemo. But after he found out about the lung puncture that changed. I'm not sure if I'll get chemo Friday now or not. I might have to wait till the next week. I have a small hole in my chest where the tube was. I can take the bandage off tomorrow, but the surgeon said to expect a little drainage for a couple days. It is pretty small, but they still might not want to let me start chemo this tired with an open wound. I don't like the idea of knowing those 3 lymph nodes are positive for cancer, and I'm doing nothing.

A friend of mine at Duke oncology talked to a (somewhat) famous doctor there for me. She told me he would review my records. Now I just have to find out what he needs. I really want to get those nodes removed, but my oncologist just wanted to jump into chemo. He didn't mention if we'd remove them later or not. I've only had just the one appointment with him when he told me the news. I really expected it to be what it was, but even so, I wasn't prepared enough for the shock to ask my usual questions and retain all information like I usually do. Tomorrow I'm going in with a few questions for him. And afterwards I'm staying for the colon and rectal cancer support group. I'm hoping that a guy I know from the group shows up. He was stage IIIc and clear after FOLFOX. Then his scan (6 months or 12 months, I don't remember) showed one lymph node enlarged and lit up. He has the same oncologist as I do. His node was removed, and then he did FOLFIRI and Avastin. Last I saw him was in June and he was done with chemo and NED again. We didn't have group in July or August. I'm hoping he is still NED. And I want to find out when he had the node out - before or after chemo.

I was reading my pathology report, and it concerns me a bit. It sounds to me like maybe they didn't even get into the lymph node. NO actual lymphoid tissue seen. A few skeletal muscle bundles. And the description of the shape of the cells being consistant with colon cancer. Is there any chance that the biopsy just got pieces from the peritoneum and not from the lymph node? Otherwise, why are there muscle bundles, but no lymph tissues? Is there a chance I have peritoneal mets? If there is that chance, I want surgery to remove the nodes and take a look at the peritoneum. I know that often those mets don't show on scans. I want HIPEC if there are any.