more waiting...

So Thurs. I called the docs office for the 3rd time. I got a call back 3 hours later and the nurse told me the sample had not been preserved properly so no results.

I still wait to see what is going to happen. The docs office is suppose to call me today. We may jump straight to the surgery to have complete biopsy done instead of just a needle biopsy. That's the only way to know 100% what is going on.

Still Waiting...

I still don't have the results from my needle biopsy. I called the doctors office yesterday and left a message on the nurse's voicemail... will update as soon as I hear something.

ENT Visit

So yesterday, I had my ENT appointment.

The good news is that they were able to do the needle biopsy then and there. I should have the results in about a week.

The doctor made no comment as to what he thought the enlarged lymph node was caused by. He did think it was very important to find out what this was--esp. considering my past medical history. (This doc was in the same office as the ENT doc I saw a year ago, but was a different doc).

So here's the deal: The doc says the needle biopsy can give a false negative, but not a false positive. So a couple of things could happen. A) There may not be enough sample and I may have to have it done again, b) the test could come back as cancer, which would mean I have cancer again, or C) the test comes back negative, which means it could or could not be cancer.

The bottom line is the new ENT doc thinks that I should have the lymph node surgically removed just to play it on the safe side. If it is removed, it can be fully tested and I will know what it is. (Although if it is benign, I may never know what caused it).

The physicians assistant that helped with the procedure said that she agreed with my oncology--the lump did not look like a typical cancer tumor. It moved around and was soft instead of being hard.

The waiting game begins.... but it looks like I will be having neck surgery in a few weeks... hopefully chemotheraphy will not follow.

Appt. Scheduled

So I called the oncologists office and found out even if I keep my appointment next week, I will still have to see the ENT doctor to schedule the biopsy.

So I scheduled an appt. with the ENT on Monday afternoon. I will request that they schedule a biopsy as soon as possible and hope to know what's up soon...

Oh, no.. Not again...

So last week, (July 4th) I noticed a small bump on my neck. I was very scared. I called the doctors office the next day and they fit me in.

My oncologist did not seem very concerned about it. He said it was just a swollen lymph node and wasn't consistent with a Burkitt's tumor. The thing that worries me is that the bump is in the same general area as the initial bump and came about the same way. Also, when I noticed the first lump a year ago, the doctor's didn't seem alarmed by it.

My doc suggested I come back in 2 weeks because he didn't want to "worry about having it biopsied." I took that and called it a day.

The next day, I called the doctor's office again. The fact is there is a bump on my neck and I haven't been sick with a cold or had any infections so there is no good reason for it to be there. I thought it would be a good idea to have a needle biopsy just so we know what the bump is. In two weeks time, if it were still there, we would have to have it anyway. He said I would have to see the ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) in order to have the needle biopsy done. (which by the way, would be the same doc who I first saw with the first lump who told me it was a 95% chance not cancer).

Am I crazy here or do doctors not make any sense? In years of practice, does logic go out the window? If we have the medical technology to know what something is why not find out? And why send a patient to multiple doctors when one will suffice?

I was anxious, sacred, and worried, but now I have a better mental attitude. Worse case scenario is that the cancer is back and I have to undergo chemo again, maybe get a bone marrow transplant this time around. I've been through the chemo process once so I could do it again.

Best case scenario is the bump is nothing and will go away. I also have the fact that my oncologist doesn't think it looks cancerous--which is a good thing.

I will update the blog as a I know more. I feel this is an important part of the healing process--but I hope others out there, once they are in remission, never have more bumps popping up on their necks.