First Post-Surgery MRI Results, Final Pathology & More.

01/20/16 - Finally read all my reports - MRI from last week, November 2015 x-ray & July 2015 final pathology.  It seems to be the general consensus amongst liposarcoma patients to ALWAYS read your own reports, so that’s the plan going forward.  Many thanks to the wonderful administrative assistant at my oncologists office who scanned them for me.  She really is the best, I wish they would clone her!

First up, my first six-month post-surgery MRI results: While my left inguinal lymph node has increased from 12mm to 14mm & there are a few small pockets of fluid, everything else looks good & I am still NED six months after surgery!!!  *Happy wobbles* THANK YOU, UNIVERSE!!!  They suggest monitoring the lymph node, but that's only to be expected.  No big deal. :)  Just one more body part to add to the surveillance list. :p

NOTE: For any friends or family reading this, that was the crucial part of this post.  The rest is probably of more interest to fellow survivors & warriors, so no need to read further if technical stuff freaks you out.  :)

As for my July 2015 pathology report, which I’ve never personally seen for myself till now, I was hoping they’d do a re-tally of my round cell component for the entire tumour.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, but it occurred to me that perhaps they can't get one post surgery due to the radiation I had which would've killed some of the tumour.  I'll just have to go with the original biopsy RC percentage of >25%.  For those just tuning into this blog, that means a higher chance of recurrence & distant metastasis.  Also, it seems the tumour did shrink a tiny bit after radiation, as the report said it was 24x12x6.5 upon removal.  Before surgery when I first had an MRI in April 2015, I was told it was 25x13x8.7cm.  My oncologist originally told me it didn’t shrink.  They must consider the difference to be too small to technically count.

Last but not least, I got a copy of my chest x-ray report from November, 2015, which I already knew was clear, but as above, I wanted to read it for myself. I must say, it has to be the shortest report in history!  It was literally one line “The intrathoracic contents, regional bones & soft tissues are all unremarkable.”  Hmph!!!  How dare they call me “unremarkable”?! ;)  LOL!  Just kidding.  If being unremarkable means no new aliens have decided to colonize the lining of my lungs & heart, I’ll take it!  ;)

I also asked about the tingling I’ve increasingly experienced in my hands & feet.  According to the email from my oncologist’s office, he is not concerned about that right now, as it’s very common and can be caused by a number of things.  However, they did suggest I avoid going to any chiropractor for the time being, and said if my back gets too bad to book an appointment with my oncologist.  Interesting.  Sounds like they don’t want to disturb anything, like that T3 nodule they’re watching…  I thought a visit to the chiropractor might help with the tingling…  So much for that idea!

Next up is my four-month chest x-ray & followup in March 2016.  In the meantime, I’ve got a few things in the works to share here between scans, so stay tuned. :)

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