Great news!

Good deal!

Very happy to hear it.

Yay! So glad to hear!

Fantastic news.

Wonderful news!

Awesome News! God is good and prayers work.

So happy to hear the good news.

The roller coaster continues. Mom went to see the radiologist last week and they did not hit it off. He wants to focus treatment on the tiny spots that they saw on her scan in the area of her chest. I think there was a communication barrier and I don't know that mom completely understands what he is saying. He suggested that she bring one of her children to her next appointment so that they could help her understand the treatment options. She is incredibly upset and depressed because he suggested that she wouldn't understand. Her pride has been hurt by the suggestion that she needs help. I will be going with her to her appointment tomorrow afternoon and hopefully I'll know more after that.

Can you get a different radiologist, maybe a partner in the same office at least? This is such important treatment that involves multiple interactions and if your Mom isn't comfortable with this guy, it can undermine her recovery. She's trusting him with her life. Sometimes Drs can be so full of themselves and just abrasively rude and insensitive.
Prayers continue for your mom

Part of the issue is that mom doesn't like any doctor who does not tell her what she wants to hear, so her opinion of physicians is usually based on her most recent visit with them. She will likely not like any doctor who doesn't tell her that she's cured and doesn't need any more treatment. Much of her anxiety is caused by having to wait weeks to get in to see the doctor, she wants to get treatment and put everything behind her and changing doctors would likely result in another delay in her treatment. I am glad to go with her tomorrow and hear what the doctor has to say. I've kind of wanted to speak with her doctors anyway since mom tends to only remember parts of what they say and doesn't share information that she doesn't agree with.

I totally understand, especially the waiting part. My mom doesn't have the doctor dislike but she's 75% deaf and just nods and agrees with anything the dr says which can cause it's own issues. Thankfully, my daughter's a nurse and takes mom to all her appointments to advocate for the best treatment for mom. She's got Mom's healthcare POA too already...just in case. It's good you can be there for your mom.

Well, I can understand why my mother was confused after her previous appointment. We went to the doctor on Tuesday and her condition is very confusing. Prior to her last surgery to excise tissue from around where they found the skin cancer and the closest lymph node, the did a PET scan. The tissue around where the skin cancer was removed and the nearest lymph node lit up on the scan indicating that the cancer had likely spread to the lymph system. Several nodes in her chest and abdomen also lit up. The surgery removed tissue in the area around the original cancer site and no cancerous cells were found. The nearest lymph node was removed and there were no cancer cells found. One would think this is the best possible news but you would be wrong. Because the removed lymph node had no cancer cells, they have no idea what the cells in her chest and abdomen contain.

There are several possibilities - the most optimistic being that the lymph nodes are benign like the one that was removed due to a false positive PET scan. That can not be safely assumed however. The second possibility is that the Merkel Cell skin cancer did spread to the lymph system but for some reason skipped that one node - in which case they could treat her with an immune therapy drug which is much less toxic than chemotherapy. The third possibility is that the nodes in her chest and abdomen could be a different type of lymphoma. Basically, they can not treat her because they have no idea if the nodes that lit up are cancerous and if they are, they have no idea what type of cancer it is and can not treat it. They have done an additional CAT scan and several blood tests and all appear normal with no markers that they would expect to find in someone with cancer.

We have a consultation with a pulmonary physician on Monday to see if he can perform a needle biopsy of one of the lymph nodes in the chest through a scope inserted through the throat. I hate to see them perform an invasive procedure like that if it's not necessary, but other than another PET scan I don't know of an alternative.

Ugh, so complicated. You are all in my thoughts, teej.

Wow! That's so complicated! Will be praying for your mom, family, and wisdom for the doctors!

Although... Can we just say that the power of prayer is incredible and it was a false positive and she does not have anymore cancer cells in her body?! I think I like that the best!

Now another specialist is consulting on the case, the consultation with the pulmonary doctor on Monday is canceled. On the bright side, she is no longer embarrassed that I am going to the appointments with her, she thanked me for helping her understand what was going on and said she feels better having me there.

You're a good son, Thomas.

so was Norman Bates!

Mom has an appointment this afternoon that I will be taking her to. The doctor has been working very hard with several other cancer specialists to determine a course of treatment for her. She said that the nurse who called to make the appointment told her that she should be very pleased with how hard the doctor has worked on this and with what the outcome will be. Fingers crossed that we receive good news and that she receives the best treatment possible.

I'll do better than crossing my fingers - prayers going up, Thomas. Please keep us posted on your mom.

More prayers going up.

Mom has been diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma. It would have never been discovered if it hadn't been for the skin cancer. She begins chemotherapy in three weeks. It is not a particularly strong course of chemo, two days a month for six to eight months. After three or four months they will do another scan to see if the chemo is working. Prayers and positive thoughts would be appreciated.

Continuing prayers from WA!

Yeah, double prayers coming from WA!

More blowing out there from GA.