Friday, August 31, 2007
Second visit with oncologist
Total bone scan
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
First visit to oncologist
August 20 - extensive visit with oncologist to recommend path of treatment.
Paul has cancer in both lungs but oncologist has reason to believe it is two separate cancers - not spread from right to left. Therefore, he is going to start with radiation treatments - every weekday for several weeks to be determined by radiologist oncologist according to size and position of the two masses.
A newer CT scan is scheduled for Thursday and we can only hope nothing has changed. There has been no signs of spreading to any lymphy nodes or organs so far - hoping it stays that way.
More news later.
Monday, August 13, 2007
How it all began and progressed to now...
This journey all started in December, 2006. Paul had surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. Due to that surgery his medication had to be adjusted for his blood pressure several times.
April 18, 2007 - Last time it took him by ambulance to the VA hospital, Syracuse, NY. He had a virus but not serious - just maybe a little dehydrated and dropped his blood pressure dangerously low. In the emergency room they took an xray of his lungs looking for pneumonia. That is the first appearance of a "fuzzy" area in his right lung - so the journey had begun.
May 2, 2007 -needle biopsy of "fuzzy" area (now called a mass) in the upper lobe of his right lung. Inconclusive results due to a partial pneumothorax and doctor could not finish the biopsy. He was in hospital about 3 days with chest tube to reinflate the lung.
May 21, 2007 - CT scan showed mass had grown to about 5 cm. (not sure from what size).
May 31, 2007 - PET scan at North Medical. Results showed mass to light up enough for his pulmonary doctor to request another biopsy.
June 14, 2007 - Second needle biopsy went well but was also inconclusive for cancer.
June 25, 2007 - Dr. Kaul, his wonderful pulmonary doctor, did a bronoscopy on the right lung with positive results for non-small cell squamous cancer. At least we now know what we are dealing with. However, CT scan also showed a small nodule on left lung. The doctor said Paul would need a biopsy to rule out cancer in left lung to have surgery to remove right lobe and right lung cancer.
August 3, 2007 - Needle biopsy on left lung at Upstate Medical Center showed cancer has spread to left from right lung. Therefore, it is in the blood stream and surgery not an option.
August 20, 2007 - Appointment scheduled with Oncology at VA hospital to review and decide on treatment options.
