Is The Cancer Back?

11 years 4 months ago #43552 by harleygirl
Replied by harleygirl on topic Is The Cancer Back?
My Dad sent me a copy of the CT report and it turns out that the mass seems to be wrapped around the OUTSIDE of the right ureter and is about 2 inches long. When he had his ureteral stents changed 4 months ago, no mass was noted, so whatever this is grew big and fast! We went back to his original urologist today who performed his cystectomy 5.5 years ago. The doctor's first comment was "Well, it must be that the cancer is back." That comment did not sit right with me. What is he: clairvoyant?!

I finally got the doctor to agree that a biopsy of the mass is in order to see just what exactly it is and go from there. Dad needs to have his stents swapped out soon and they are going to try to do that and the biopsy at the same time, all by the interventional radiologist using CT guidance. I'm not expecting anything to happen next week because of Thanksgiving and besides, Dad has to be off his coumadin for 5 days before any type of procedure.

Maybe this mass is just fat or maybe it is a blood clot or maybe it is a big bunch of bacteria grouped together and showing up on the scan. It could be lots of things. Guess the biopsy will tell what it actually is.

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11 years 4 months ago #43527 by Cynthia
Replied by Cynthia on topic Is The Cancer Back?
Harley so sorry you have come back for this reason even if you have been missed. I would think cancer could be suggested by a CT but what I am having problems with is that the nurse called and stated it as fact with no further instructions. I know in my bones that if their father had been treated such they would be livid. I would think a call asking to talk to the doctor is indeed in order. Your Dad is sick of being sick and that is understandable but you can't make decisions if you don't even know for sure what you are dealing with. Let us know what goes on.

Cynthia Kinsella
T2 g3 CIS 8/04
Clinical Trial
Chemotherapy & Radiation 10/04-12/04
Chemotherapy 3/05-5/05
BCG 9/05-1-06
RC w/umbilical Indiana pouch 5/06
Left Nephrectomy 1/09
President American Bladder Cancer Society

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11 years 4 months ago #43526 by harleygirl
Is The Cancer Back? was created by harleygirl
I have not posted in a while because all has been going okay. My Dad, who is now 86, had his bladder/prostate removed in 2007 at the age of 80. There were complications and he has never been himself since the surgery, but was "soldiering on".

Yesterday, he got a call from the nurse at his oncologist's office regarding a CT scan on his pelvis and abdomen he had had the previous week. It was the routine yearly scan that is recommended. She tells Dad, "There is a mass in your lower quadrant. The cancer is back."!! Wow! First of all, to just call someone on the phone and deliver that kind of news seems unacceptable to me and the fact that the nurse called and not the doctor is puzzling. Also, there was no suggestion to make an appointment to follow-up and determine definitively what exactly this "mass" is.

Can a radiologist look at a film and definitively determine that a "mass" is indeed cancer and what kind of cancer it is? Seems to me that a biopsy would be necessary to get this information and make a firm diagnosis.

It has been 5.5 years since Dad's surgery. He never had to have chemo and says he won't have it now. He has been suffering with the effects of a UTI and a head cold this past two weeks, so he is not feeling his best, for sure. After recently having a pacemaker implanted and having a big complication with that (one lead migrated and poked through the heart wall!) and finding out he has blood clots in his lungs and leg and heart and being put on Coumadin, he has had about all he can take.

So, again, is it possible to diagnose cancer from a CT scan?

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