Had My Checkup

Hey Joe,
Just a bump in the road, I have no doubt you'll be fine. I bet your glad its over with and for the most part you are good...take care,,Ginger

Thanks Julie I also hope it is benign but at least it is small at this time .8cm. My God after my bladder tumor being a little over 10cms this seems like a dot. I had an abyss on my left kidney from that darn MRSA in my blood but the IV antibiotics got rid of it in the end. Like that liver MRI I had to get if I didn't have cancer I would never have needed it because it would of been viewed as normal. But once you get cancer just about everything that happens to you they want to checkout just in case. I don't mind this I guess better to be safe then sorry but sometimes this whole deal just gets old. I can't count all the tests I had in this last year but I'll say this I am getting very tired of them. They say once you have cancer your life will never be the same but they left out once you have cancer you will never have peace of mind. Joe

Joe, they found a nodule in my husbands lung last year on a CT scan about this time. First they gave him tests to rule out TB and Valley Fever (fungal infection). The he had repeat CT scans which showed the nodule getting larger. That is when they decided to do a needle biopsy. Because they saw it early and it was still small they were able to remove a section of his lobe and got the whole tumor.
In the event you might need surgery look for a thoracic surgeon who will do minimally invasive surgery using a scope. Not everyone can do that type of surgery. Dick was lucky that the thoracic surgeon here in Tucson specializes in that type of surgery. She is now training people in how to do this type of surgery.
I hope your nodule is benign. Dick has a cyst on his kidney that has not changed in several years. He was getting a CT scan every year since the initial diagnosis of CIS in 2001. Julie

Thanks Pete for your nice reply I think you and I definitely think the same. After my Turbt they saw lesions on my liver which is not uncommon for a guy my age 53 but my Urologist/Oncologist wanted an MRI just to make sure. Naturally you think darn I hope this didn't spread to my liver and the test turned out negative all this just seems to go with the territory. I always try to focus as positive as I can possibly can under the circumstances. Thanks Pete, Joe

Joe,

You will be OK. As you indicate, these nodules are usually benign. Don't think that you are in the 40% group, but in the 60%. I have benign(so far)nodules in my upper right lobe and lower left lobe. In addition, I have a spot on my 7th rib that the docs think is benign (but I worry about this). I also have benign cysts on my kidneys and liver which haven't presented a problem yet. So you are not alone in worrying about metastasis with everything else going on in your body. So far you and I are cancer free, and we can keep our fingers crossed for each other.

Regards,

Peter Konomos

I had a checkup yesterday and my chest xray showed a change from 1/10 to the present there is a .8 cm nodule in my right upper lobe. Dr. Malkowicz one easy going dude said Joe I'll send you for a CT Scan and I told you before we were going to hit some bumps in the road along the way. Sure I'm thinking about this is it a solitary pulmonary nodule or something else either way it's in an early stage. He also wants to do a poke and peek here soon with my uretha because of a prior surgery and extra cutting he had to do he opted not to take my uretha out at the time because of the lenght of time of my surgery at the time. He said this was just a minor surgery for him and I may not even need it done now just being cautious. As far as the nodule I am hoping this is the reason;

***About 60% of all solitary pulmonary nodules are benign (not cancerous). Benign nodules have many causes, including old scars and infections. A solitary pulmonary nodule is usually found on a chest x-ray. If serial chest x-rays (repeated x-rays over time) show the nodule size unchanged for 2 years, it is considered benign. A chest CT scan is often performed to evaluate a solitary pulmonary nodule in detail.

Dr. Malkowicz had a nusre with him with alot of letters after her name and he was just showing her around. He told her when Joe came in here he was one sick guy and the chemo kicked in and did it's job. He also told me Joe I told you along the way we would hit some bumps and I remember him saying that. He told me after everything I had been through the chemo, the RC, the 2 UTI's, and the MRSA in my blood that I looked good and he called me a Viking which I thought was really nice. But I reminded him we are from Philly and we are Eagles not Vikings. (football-Phila Eagles-Minnesota Vikings lol)

I think sometimes I really need a reality check because sometimes I don't realize how sick of a man I really was when I first went into Penn. I just had this gut feeling I was going to hear something worst then this so all in all I will get my Scan and take it from there. This is how I keep it together at times and it is all because of Dr. Malkowicz if I sense that that real concerned in his eyes then it bothers me if he just had that easy going look in his eyes then I feel better and more positive oops lol I just let ou my secret. Take Care All, Joe