Deja vu?

"Ahhhhh!"

No, that is not me breathing a sigh of relief.

So. As you may remember from the last blog entry, Rob had his three-month CT this morning. Luckily, we were able to read the report online. Unluckily, we don't speak 'doctor.'

Let me relate to you some of the phrases that were in the report:

There is a nodular feature at the periphery of the right upper lobe best seen on image #34 and this measures 5 mm in diameter. There are a few associated linear densities. This was not definitely visualized on the prior exam from 01/07/09. There is some volume loss and a few coarse linear changes in the right base and there is a tiny effusion at the right base. The left lung is clear and no left effusion. So, he has more cancer?

On the prior exam there has been resection of a portion of the posterolateral aspect of the right 7th rib. The remaining ribs had appeared intact. On the current exam again noted is resection of the right 7th rib but there now is a fracture with some displacement in the 8th rib posterolaterally and then a nondisplaced fracture through the medial most aspect of the left 9th rib with some callus formation in that region. So, he has a broken rib?

A portion of the upper abdomen was included, and there appears to be an enhancing lesion in the lateral segment of the left lobe of the liver best seen on image #55. This was not appreciated on the exam from January 2007 which was a noncontrast exam. There is a questionable subtle low attenuating lesion in that region on the prior exam. On the contrast enhanced exam from 09/02/08 this was not seen. There is an old contrast enhanced CT of the abdomen from 12/30/05 and there is a subtle lesion in this region on that exam. Suspect this is a hemangioma though is not as well seen on that prior exam. (History: he did have a spot on his liver 3.5 years ago, but they thought it was just fine - so, is this getting bigger? Is it really cancer?)

Bottom line: what the, huh? Rob's oncologists office called me at 4:30 tonight to answer questions. (I called the office this morning upset, I guess six hours is a decent amount of time to call someone back when they are falling apart.)

Rob will be getting another PET scan (remember the drinking of nasty Kool-aid-type drink and then getting a super-duper powerful shot of radioactive isotope to see what kind of paranormal activity he has roaming around in his body?). We should find out soon when he will get his PET scan.

More information to follow.

Does this feel like deja vu to you?

Seriously.