First the good news. Myeloma cells throughout the body were NOT found. It would have been a gi-normous surprise if they were, given the negative bone marrow biopsy report, blood tests, and urine electrophoresis.
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We
let
that
sink
in
just
for
a
moment.
That was the good news and it is indeed very very good.
But Life is not always cherries. (Cherry season is over in Colorado.) :-(
Sometimes it's also the pits. Now for the bad news.
The bad news is that another lesion was discovered.
The pet scan found another lesion hidden away in the very bottom of the pelvis. A bad place. Close to where the two sides of the pelvis meet at the pubic bone...s.?
"A lesion in the right inferior pubic ramus with a sclerotic rim, and mild FDG uptake-SUV max 3.1" it reads.
FDG is what they call the radioactive sugar. There was only mild uptake. No bright orange to indicate life threatening emergency. But-the lesion has a sclerotic margin... that means it has a shell. Like an egg. A hollow bubble in the bone. A little egg from HELL. With Lester's ugly face on it.
Only we might have to find a new name for this one. The lesion on the rib was always thought to be 'benign' because it didn't HAVE a sclerotic rim.
The oncologist said that this type of cancer "hides like no other." Now we get to see exactly what he meant.
The area where the rib tumor was also lit up, and additional tumor couldn't be ruled out.
There are cancer cells where they weren't expected to be. They knew that the surgical "bed" would light up, but outside the chest cavity and near the incision there are areas of concern.
A special radiation doctor is going to address this next week. No waiting.
Next: Radiation treatments and monthly blood draws. Another PET scan around Thanksgiving. Oh, and not too forget...a visit to the liver transplant clinic. We don't want the hepatology folks to get to missing us too much! Heh.
Later, Billybob
A quick note from Notbillybob, aka Bobby-
thank you for visiting, reading, and your thoughts and prayers for Dad and the family in this difficult time. I started this blog in the spring of 2006 after being diagnosed with end stage liver disease, portal hypertension, hepatopulmonary syndrome, and hepatic encephalopathy. I did it to avoid having to repeat over and over which doctor said what and so on and so on. When I first developed upper right quad pain in summer 2006, Sharon sugested we give it a name. Billybob got his identity. Later it was determined that the liver capsule is bulging out in front and causing the pain, making it a fitting name.
In 2007, Billybob's wildride was name by the Fox news health network as one of ten blogs to watch in 2008. After Sharon had three surgeries in three consecutive years, and Lester came to stay, I let the blog just sit for way too long. A special thank you to all those at the Liver cirrhosis support group at Yahoo for all of you support over the years. I hope that this blog is informative without putting you to sleep or making you feel like slitting your wrists or jumping off of tall buildings. On a serious note, with birthday number 8 looming just days away, I want to thank my AA sponsor , and that program for doing what I never thought possible, re-inventing me.
Most of all, thank you, Sharon for taking care of me, and showing what Judge Simons meant when he said "in sickness and in health and , for richer for poorer...".
Love, John Robert Aragon, 8-28-2014
