Answer unclear, try again later
Oct. 4th, 2007 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperWhen we got in to see Dr. Kohn the oncologist today, she told ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
solarbird and me that she'd been handed my MRI results hot off the presses. Which was pretty good in terms of promptness, but not so much in terms of actual data. Apparently there's another, smaller lump in there (about 1cm in size) that requires further exploration. There's also a yellow flag about the size of one of my lymph nodes; it's not humongous, and it's unclear whether this is due to my still healing from the biopsy or what, but it's at least big enough that they want to look at it further.
Oh joy oh glee. This apparently means the following topics of discussion with Dr. Towbin on Monday:
And, as a couple of people have already asked me about, we talked about the idea of genetics screening. I've arranged to speak with a genetics counselor for more data on that and whether doing that test is warranted in my particular situation. I've been given a big ol' questionnaire to fill out about my family's cancer history, and have flung some email at the siblings to rally the familial troops and see if I can uncover any other cancer cases on my family tree.
Dr. Kohn seems to be in the camp of "if it's DCIS, it ain't breast cancer yet." I don't know what I feel about that. She kept calling it "pre-cancerous", which is what they were calling the situation with my thyroid. That seems disingenuous to me. Assolarbird points out, the bottom-line definition of cancer is "cells reproducing out of control". Invasive vs. non-invasive is an important distinction to make; with both my thyroid and my breast, it's been non-invasive situations (modulo any unpleasant surprises about my lymph nodes). But I've still clearly got a scenario of cells in my breast failing checksum handling, as it were. Cells are reproducing in ways they are not supposed to be reproducing. If it walks, swims, and quacks like a duck, sez I, it's a goddamned duck.
I was once again confirmed via physical examination to be a generally healthy young person, though Dr. Kohn did also mention for longer-term purposes the sorts of things that are 100% in my control vs. the things that aren't. Things I can do: weight control. Exercise. Low-fat diet. All of which I've been kind of doing already, but this underscores the importance of pursuing this. Aside from that, though, we're still pretty much gathering data.
More data will be gathered tomorrow when I speak with Dr. Hunter, the radiation oncologist.
solarbird and me that she'd been handed my MRI results hot off the presses. Which was pretty good in terms of promptness, but not so much in terms of actual data. Apparently there's another, smaller lump in there (about 1cm in size) that requires further exploration. There's also a yellow flag about the size of one of my lymph nodes; it's not humongous, and it's unclear whether this is due to my still healing from the biopsy or what, but it's at least big enough that they want to look at it further.Oh joy oh glee. This apparently means the following topics of discussion with Dr. Towbin on Monday:
- Exactly how much of the big lump he took out and whether there's more of that to get; Dr. Kohn was unclear about that
- Scheduling of MRI-guided biopsy vs. a bigger surgical procedure
- What's up with the lymph node and whether they'll want to do a sentinel-node thing to see if the DCIS is there too
And, as a couple of people have already asked me about, we talked about the idea of genetics screening. I've arranged to speak with a genetics counselor for more data on that and whether doing that test is warranted in my particular situation. I've been given a big ol' questionnaire to fill out about my family's cancer history, and have flung some email at the siblings to rally the familial troops and see if I can uncover any other cancer cases on my family tree.
Dr. Kohn seems to be in the camp of "if it's DCIS, it ain't breast cancer yet." I don't know what I feel about that. She kept calling it "pre-cancerous", which is what they were calling the situation with my thyroid. That seems disingenuous to me. As
solarbird points out, the bottom-line definition of cancer is "cells reproducing out of control". Invasive vs. non-invasive is an important distinction to make; with both my thyroid and my breast, it's been non-invasive situations (modulo any unpleasant surprises about my lymph nodes). But I've still clearly got a scenario of cells in my breast failing checksum handling, as it were. Cells are reproducing in ways they are not supposed to be reproducing. If it walks, swims, and quacks like a duck, sez I, it's a goddamned duck.I was once again confirmed via physical examination to be a generally healthy young person, though Dr. Kohn did also mention for longer-term purposes the sorts of things that are 100% in my control vs. the things that aren't. Things I can do: weight control. Exercise. Low-fat diet. All of which I've been kind of doing already, but this underscores the importance of pursuing this. Aside from that, though, we're still pretty much gathering data.
More data will be gathered tomorrow when I speak with Dr. Hunter, the radiation oncologist.
