The Lung Biopsy That Didn't Happen...

Looks like fun, doesn't it?

That title sounds like the name of a bad B-movie.

Let's review the past seven weeks, shall we? The events that I've experienced are: severe anemia, a transvaginal ultrasound, an MRI, a CT scan, an endometrial biopsy, metastatic endometrial cancer diagnosis, a hysterectomy, the repair of a vaginal laceration ... and today was supposed to be a CT guided lung biopsy. The excitement never ends!

This morning, I arrived at the hospital with the plan of having a lung biopsy. As I mentioned in a past blog, the doctors wanted to know which cancer had spread - breast or endometrial. After arriving at the Day Surgical ward and changing into one of those fashionable hospital gowns, I had a meeting with the radiologist who would be performing the biopsy. He explained the complications of this procedure, which are: infection, bleeding, and a possible pneumothorax. The worst of these risks is the pneumothorax - or, better known as, a lung collapse. Ouch! He then explained that the locations of the larger tumors were close to major blood vessels and were deep in the lungs - making the risk for pneumothorax great, but the smaller tumors, which were accessible and consequently much less of a risk, might be too small to biopsy: a catch-22! Accordingly, he acknowledged that he might not be able to do the biopsy at all. After this discussion and my signature attesting that I was advised of these complications and the insertion of an IV port, I was wheeled to the CT imaging room where the technicians produced another set of CT scans which the radiologist would use to determine the possibility of doing a biopsy. 15 minutes later, he came with the news that it was just too risky to perform the procedure, so no biopsy would be done. Shortly after, the unused IV port was removed and I was released and departed. I'm not sure how I feel about this non-event. While it might be beneficial to know where the cancer originated from, the knowledge wouldn't change my treatment plan. I suppose I'm glad I didn't have to go through another risky procedure. It will be interesting to find out if there has been any significant growth of the tumors over the past 7 weeks. I suppose I'll find that out during my next appointment with the oncologist.

Speaking of which, I've moved up my next appointment with my oncologist to this Friday, which was originally scheduled for 2 weeks from today. I would like to move forward with treatment - the quicker it starts, the quicker it finishes. Plus I'd like to have at least 2 treatments completed before the 2013-2014 school year commences.

Additionally, I finally got around to reading the surgical notes that I received from my surgeon. The most interesting part was the pathology report on my diseased lady parts. It turns out that I had a 7 cm fibroid tumor, which is roughly the size of a tennis ball; although it was not round like a ball. The official name for my cancer is endometrial adenocarcinoma and happens to be a Grade 3. Grade 3 is poorly differentiated which tends to grow rapidly and spreads faster than Grades 1 or 2. So I've got that going for me! Both ovaries and cervix were cancerous and there was a positive finding for lymphovascular invasion (the spread of a cancer to the blood vessels and/or lymphatics). Isn't science just fascinating?!

That's all the news for today, stay tuned for more excitement in the days ahead...