The two scans showed no cancer! I'm a free man for another six months! Almost...
While they were looking at the scans for signs of cancer, they found blood clots in my lungs. Pulmonary Emboli. I had an episode of that about 14 years ago that I recovered from just fine. This episode is much less invasive because we caught it early. I had no symptoms, but an ultrasound showed that I had small clots in my calves that were moving through my blood stream and into my lungs. They are small and are not interfering with my breathing. Evidently, the cancer treatments have a tendency to cause blood to coagulate faster than normal and mine has done just that.
I went straight from my doctor's visit to the Stanford Emergency room across the street. I spent Thursday night in the hospital and was released to treat myself at home with a few promises. I can't exercise hard for three days. I'll be on Cumiden for six months and they want to do another scan when they think the blood clots will be dissolved.
Just as I was trying to escape from the hospital yesterday, the surgeon was also catching up to the scans I did on Thursday and said he was concerned about an anomaly in the area that I had the endoscopy a couple of weeks ago. The surgeon wants to see me next week to see what that anomaly is. It's not cancer. It could be scar tissue. I could be a cyst of some sort. They may want to take a closer look with another scan or endoscopy.
While they were looking at the scans for signs of cancer, they found blood clots in my lungs. Pulmonary Emboli. I had an episode of that about 14 years ago that I recovered from just fine. This episode is much less invasive because we caught it early. I had no symptoms, but an ultrasound showed that I had small clots in my calves that were moving through my blood stream and into my lungs. They are small and are not interfering with my breathing. Evidently, the cancer treatments have a tendency to cause blood to coagulate faster than normal and mine has done just that.
I went straight from my doctor's visit to the Stanford Emergency room across the street. I spent Thursday night in the hospital and was released to treat myself at home with a few promises. I can't exercise hard for three days. I'll be on Cumiden for six months and they want to do another scan when they think the blood clots will be dissolved.
Just as I was trying to escape from the hospital yesterday, the surgeon was also catching up to the scans I did on Thursday and said he was concerned about an anomaly in the area that I had the endoscopy a couple of weeks ago. The surgeon wants to see me next week to see what that anomaly is. It's not cancer. It could be scar tissue. I could be a cyst of some sort. They may want to take a closer look with another scan or endoscopy.
So far, I'm surving cancer. I'm not doing so well on surving treatment!
I'm focused on the good news and trying not to notice the rest of the news more than necessary...a few pills...a few shots...a few more scans...missing a great round of golf today on a beautifully sunny day...
...and no cancer! I'll be back to work on Monday.
I'm focused on the good news and trying not to notice the rest of the news more than necessary...a few pills...a few shots...a few more scans...missing a great round of golf today on a beautifully sunny day...
...and no cancer! I'll be back to work on Monday.
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