CT Scan Update and more

I just realized I never did an update after my scan.  It was pretty much the same as always.  The only thing that made me go “WHAT”? was a few things never mentioned.  It mentioned again the scaring in the left lung base but also said Atelectasis or scarring…  it’s never said anything about atelectasis.  Of course, I google that since I didn’t know what it was.  It can be collapsed air sacs (partial lung collapse?)  Hell if I know.  My Oncologist never said anything about it.

The concern, to me, is that I’ve been coughing a lot lately.  That is the only symptom my mom had when she was diagnosed with lung cancer.  As I’ve said before, having cancer makes you a little bit of a hypochondriac!  Every new symptom means another cancer or your current cancer is growing!

One liver lesion grew a tiny bit.  From 1.2cm to 1.3cm (which can just be the angle of that picture).

The other never-before-mentioned comment was “scattered atherosclerotic vasculature changes”.  I think that means I’m getting old and my arteries are hardening?

Another test I had done was an EGD.  This was ordered by both my regular doctor and my oncologist due to my nausea issues.  I had that early July.  It showed only a lot of inflammation in my esophogus and stomach.  DX is gastritis.  The gastroenterologist put me on Prilosec.  It’s helped immensely.

Then I’ve also had several procedures on my neck, or cervical spine.  None of these have helped much.  I do have new changes in disk two, which is above the 4 they fused.  The pain is really high up — into my skull.  I’ve have the nerves on both sides ablated (left side helped but the right didn’t. Then I had an injection of the nerve (they call it an epidural) on the left side but that didn’t work either.  Then the pain doc talked about an occipital nerve block (that nerve runs up the back of your head) but he wanted to put me on Gabapentin first to see if that worked.  If it worked, they new the nerve block would too.  Well, guess what?  Not only did it make me super dizzy and nauseous, it didn’t work.  Argh.  Now they want to do another cervical epidural higher up on the side of my neck.  I have that scheduled for the 19th of September.  I had to wait due to my insurance plan year starting over in July and I didn’t want to have to pay for it until I’d met my out-of-pocket maximum with my sandostatin shots since I get that money back from Novartis through their patient co-pay plan!  At $17,000 a pop, it only takes two shots to reach it!

I’m about done with all the neck pain/crap.  I just don’t want to deal with it anymore.  If this coming injection doesn’t work, I think I’m done trying anything.  I’ll just have to live with it.

One last thing (I know this is a long one), My Sookie dog had continue issues and ended up having surgery.  It looked like she most likely had cancer…  $3,000 later, no cancer!  She does have Irritable Bowel Disease.  Like me, a lot of inflammation.  She has done so great since surgery!  Dogs are amazing at how quickly they recover.  She is acting happier and more energetic than she has in the last year.