After
James’ surgery in March, he was scheduled for a 3-month follow up. This was mostly due to the lesions found on his
lung. Last week he had a CT with contrast and today he had the follow up appointment with this doctor to discuss the
results and impressions of that scan.
The
kidneys got the best news. They are
stable, working and have no recurring lesions.
Regarding
the lungs, while the lesions/nodule remain, they are stable, so this is good
news! With cancer, stable lesions mean
no growth. They also saw lesions on his
liver and bones. While that can seem
scary, and did at first, we were told that this can be normal. Fingers crossed.
The
doctor did say that while all signs point to doing a follow up in 1 year, he
felt that we should be aggressive in our observation of the lesions and therefore, we will do the
next follow up in 6 months. Once
again, we will be hoping for no growth.
The
only area of potential concern is a possible blood clot in the superior
mesenteric vein (SMV), or the vein that drains blood from the small intestine
and ends at the pancreas. It could be a
result of the contrast being flushed from the system during his CT with
contrast, however, if left untreated or at least if not further clarified, it
could lead to a pulmonary embolus…which is bad.
So, he has been scheduled for an ASAP CT where they will put the
contrast directly and specifically into the SMV to determine if it is a
clot.
So,
a few more things on the “to-do” list, but overall, we are very grateful for
the continued blessings of health and strength that have been extended to
James. Additionally, James feels
overwhelmingly blessed with regards to his doctor who seems to be extremely
attentive and compassionate towards him.
As noted in a previous post, this doctor and James are just about the
same age and share a birthday. Today, he
told James that he is struck by how much James looks like his best friend. So overall, this doctor and James are
connected in more ways than one and we feel that we are getting extremely good
care. We couldn’t feel more
grateful.
Continued
prayers for the upcoming CT scan. Onward
and upward!
