Question

Deanna,

Thank you for your responce. No he didnt image it this time. This was her regular doctor who we respect alot. You are right, maybe he dosent want to do anything unnecessary. I just would have thought with all her past history and having breast cancer that he would have wanted to look into it sooner. I do have the concent to ask her doctor anything so I may go that route. I just worry all the time and want to keep things from being missed. Her onco. tends to be a alarmest so we really want her regular dr. to handle this. She is comming up this month for all her scans again and we dont expect any problems. She has been very tired but other than that she is doing well. Thank you again for your responce.

Penny

Deanna,

 Yes she see's her onc reg. she is set to see him at the end of the month. He did a pet scan 3  months ago, along with a ct scan and chest xray. That is when they found the spot on her lung. At first he made no big deal over it until I asked what was next. He  acted surprised because he had thought it was there the last scan. I told him well if it was no one told us. He went threw all her reports and it was never mentioned. It was 9mm and they said 9mm (both her reg dr and her onc) it was to small to do anything at this point and they will check it again on the next round of scans. My mom is not a healthy person. She has a mechincal arotia heart valve for 10 years. She is on blood thinners as well. I will try to make this short- Here is how her last scans read in nov. First let me say thank you for your time with me on this.

CT scan of the chest- 9mm nodule in the left lower lobe. No pieural effusions are seen. Small lymph nodes are present in the AP window and right paratracheal region. No evidence of mediastinal, hilar or axillary lymphadenopathy. Liver is of decreased attenuation compared with the spleen constant with fatty change.small cysts are present in the right kidney without change. Atherosclerotic coronary vascular disease. Status post median sternotomy.

PET Scan-- PET images demonstrate now is some metabolic activity. Low lwvel activity associated with degenerative changes in the thoracic spine as well in several small lymph nodes, not pathologic by size criteria nor by magnitude or metabolic activity. The lymph nodes in the left axilla have physiologic uptake. The remainder of uptake is physiologic.  Extensive atherosciclrotic calcifications are noted int the coronary arteries, thoracic aorta, abdominal aorta and perpheral vasculature. There is mild fusiform aneurysmal dilatation of the infrarenal aorta to 3.0cm. mild rena atrophy is present. Sigmold diverticula are present without adjacent inflammation.

Impression-- No evidence of metastatic disease.

I have all the copies of her blood work but I really cant make heads or tail of them. I dont know what a CA27-29 is. What would it look like under her blood work.

I have tried to disect all the reports but I just dont know what it all means. When she goes at the end of march I know he will order more scans and I plan on him telling me what it all means. I got these faxed to me when he was away for a month on vacation and never got him to explain them to me.

Thank you again for any input you may have on all of this. I have also noticed she has such a hard time remembering anything anymore and has a face of confusion more often than not. I love my mom with all my heart and I know she is tired from all of this. But she is a very strong woman and pushes forward! My mom will be 77 this year.