Dear you,
I'm going in for a PET/CT scan and outpatient surgery here
in the next few weeks. PET scan is on October 8th, surgery isn't
scheduled yet.
I have an "enlarged supraclavicular lymph node" that was biopsied back
in July. It unfortunately is still getting bigger,and now seems to
have a couple of outriders. The biopsy came back negative - "no
malignant cells identified".
However, since it's still growing, my oncologist has recommended that
the mass be completely removed. I don't yet know if it'll be done by my
regular surgeon, or an ENT. The PET scan jams me full of glucose, and
looks for unusual metabolic activity, in case there's something
happening that we can't see. Bravo for modren technology, and all
that.
There's no other signs that I have a cancer recurrence. I do a blood
test about every six months called CA15-3 that's a blood marker for
people who've had advance stage breast cancers, and that number has
been staying consistently low. This is good. We like good. Good is...well, good. Sorry, not feeling very eloquent at the moment.
So I'm not feeling particularly stressed out about the whole thing.
Both docs think that there are pretty low odds that the biopsy could
have missed something malignant, and the nodes are tender and sore,
which cancerous ones generally aren't - that points more towards some
type of inflammation. Still, surgery right behind my right collarbone
is giving me a mild case of the willies.
In the mean time, it might rain here today, which would be the end of harvest season, and the beginning of autumn. I'm looking forward to the first fire in the fireplace, and actually wearing a sweater. Last time I wore one was in Ontario, in August. Davis summers don't generally require insulation.
Be good, have fun, yours is a glorious country, Honeychurch!
Love,
grundydoon