WOW! It's been a while!
The kids & I had an absolute FANTASTIC time in Louisiana. We were there almost a month. We saw old friends, made new friends, ate lots of not-so-good-for-you-but-delicious food, and just had a really great time.
While in LA, I was keeping a close eye on a lump in my neck. When we got home, I made an appointment with my oncologist, who sent me for a CT scan. It showed that the lump was probably just scar tissue from my biopsy and that it looked like I had a touch of pneumonia in my right lung. No big deal since I was feeling well.
Then I developed a cough. I ran a fever for several days. I thought I had just caught a bug that I couldn't shake. That, along with a little back pain, was enough for me to call the doc again. About 3.5 weeks ago, my oncologist sent me for another x-ray. He said my x-rays looked the same. After discussing the results with the radiologist, they determined that I had Radiation Pneumonitis. Since I was right at the 6 month mark after radiation, they thought that was the obvious answer. Since I was fast-approaching the date of my 12 week post-op PET scan, he decided to treat me with 2 weeks of antibiotics, so that any infection would be gone & not mess up my scan. I finished my antibiotic the day of the scan.
Last Wednesday was the PET scan. Friday was my follow-up. The doc said the stupid lymph node is STILL lighting up on the scan. The good news is that it hasn't grown. We don't know why it's lighting up though. And now the spot of what we thought was pneumonia or pneumonitis has gotten more dense. What is that? We don't know. Infection (viral, fungal, bacterial)? Cancer? We just don't know.
My oncologist spoke with and made me an appointment with a Pulmonologist. He is going over my films this week & I meet with him on Thursday. We'll decide the next step then. The oncologist thinks the pulmonologist will want to do a bronchoscopy to try to get a sample of whatever this is. We're going to leave the lymph node alone right now because a biopsy on it means a wire-guided open biopsy (which, IMO, sounds like no fun at all).
Back to the waiting game.
