The surgeon said the biopsies from my previous surgeries came back negative for lymphoma, even though one of them still didn't have enough tissue to run thorough tests.
The original issue was a growth/swollen gland in my neck. He'll be doing surgery on November 8 to get tissue for a biopsy and frozen section to see what's going on with it. Depending on what he finds, he'll either sew me back up, or things could get more complicated really quickly. He seems to think they'll get complicated, and without going into a lot of detail, there will be two routes he could end up taking.
I'm praying he won't find anything cancerous unless it's benign and limited to an area he can go ahead and take care of. As before, steps after that will depend on what's found.
Thanks for the continued prayers.
On the lighter side, the nose spray I'm supposed to use three times a day is making me a little jittery. I might have to switch to decaf.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
More delays
We found out today the biopsy results are in, but apparently only the doctor can discuss what they mean with us. Audrey went to Kirklin Clinic and got a copy of them and is still trying to make sense of them. She's a nurse, not a doctor, and they are apparently very complex and hard to understand. I think I'm being more laid back about it than I would if were Audrey another family member awaiting test results. When my primary care physician looked at the place on my neck and said it was probably a swollen gland and to come back if it didn't go down in three weeks, I should've said "No way, who can I see about this." But as the saying goes, hindsight is 20-20.
The doctor is out until Monday so we have an appointment for Monday morning so he can go over the results and tell us what needs to happen next. I have several friends who have had cancer, and some have it still. Has anyone ever heard of having to wait nearly two weeks after surgery to get biopsy results?
I think I'll read for a while before going to bed. As Groucho Marx said, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
The doctor is out until Monday so we have an appointment for Monday morning so he can go over the results and tell us what needs to happen next. I have several friends who have had cancer, and some have it still. Has anyone ever heard of having to wait nearly two weeks after surgery to get biopsy results?
I think I'll read for a while before going to bed. As Groucho Marx said, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
and still waiting
How long should it take to get biopsy results back? I've been calling the doctor's office twice a day this week, and they always take my name, date of birth, and say they'll get the doctor's nurse or assistant to call me, but I still haven't heard from anyone. Even if they call just to say the results aren't back yet, they need to call and let me know something. Getting a little frustrated here. If I wouldn't have to take vacation time to do it, I'd go to the doctor's office so I could go to the desk every 10 minutes and see if anyone could talk to me.
Monday, October 22, 2012
No updates today
I was hoping to hear from the doctor today with biopsy results, but no such luck. He'll be in surgery tomorrow, and for the first time in three Tuesdays it won't be on me. I'll call his office late tomorrow afternoon and see if anybody has any results, unless someone calls me sooner. I'm not sure if one of his assistants will call if the results come in.
It's difficult at times to concentrate on work from 8-5.
It's difficult at times to concentrate on work from 8-5.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Still waiting
Looks like the biopsy results won't be back until next week, hopefully early next week.
I've been back to work the last two days, thankfully my boss gave me the option of working from home by logging into the company's network. Felt a little better yesterday than today. Not in pain, just run down from surgery.
I've gotta trust God, take it a day at a time, and not project myself into worst case scenarios.
A line in Stephen King's book "11/22/63" says "Life turns on a dime." He's definitely got that right.
I've been back to work the last two days, thankfully my boss gave me the option of working from home by logging into the company's network. Felt a little better yesterday than today. Not in pain, just run down from surgery.
I've gotta trust God, take it a day at a time, and not project myself into worst case scenarios.
A line in Stephen King's book "11/22/63" says "Life turns on a dime." He's definitely got that right.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
A few notes
Just a few notes.
This issue started with a growth on my neck, not sinus problems. Even after the ENT looked at the CAT scan an ultrasound he said I had bad sinuses but needed to deal with what he had called a growth or tumor on my parotid gland on the right side of my neck. He said from everything he saw it didn't look cancerous.
The place on my neck is still there and I'll need to see if it'll go down since my sinuses have been cleared and scraped. Yeah, yuck.
I've got a scar about a half inch long on the right side of my nose and one smaller than that from the surgery yesterday. I have to use a sinus wash a few times a day to keep my sinuses cleared.
At this point, I have not gone through any cancer treatment. Last week's surgery was to explore my sinuses (through my nose) and get tissue from the places that showed up on the CAT scan, which turned out to not be sufficient for a conclusive biopsy. Yesterday's surgery was to get more tissue for a biopsy and to wash out my sinuses. A friend had sinus surgery a while back and said in hindsight he wishes he would've taken two weeks off work instead of one. It really leaves you feeling horrible and drained for a while.
Still waiting for biopsy results that will tell if the surgeon's original diagnosis of 'probable lymphoma' holds true. Again, he said yesterday's frozen section came back not showing cancer.
I go back to work tomorrow for the first time in almost two weeks. When I went to the consult with the surgeon on Oct. 8 I had no idea all of this would follow. I thought the neck surgeon would either take a needle biopsy of the place on my neck or possibly schedule surgery. But he, as it turned out, got the sinus surgeon to check the scans, and it all started from there. The neck surgeon is a professor of medicine at UAB and the sinus surgeon is an associate professor. The anesthesiologist from yesterday is a professor as well.
Human Resources at my employer, Jack Henry and Associates, has been extremely helpful in the process of filing short term disability for the time I've been out. If you have short-term and/or long-term disability where you work, it couldn't hurt to at least know who to contact if you ever need to.
Hopefully all that will fill in some blanks.
This issue started with a growth on my neck, not sinus problems. Even after the ENT looked at the CAT scan an ultrasound he said I had bad sinuses but needed to deal with what he had called a growth or tumor on my parotid gland on the right side of my neck. He said from everything he saw it didn't look cancerous.
The place on my neck is still there and I'll need to see if it'll go down since my sinuses have been cleared and scraped. Yeah, yuck.
I've got a scar about a half inch long on the right side of my nose and one smaller than that from the surgery yesterday. I have to use a sinus wash a few times a day to keep my sinuses cleared.
At this point, I have not gone through any cancer treatment. Last week's surgery was to explore my sinuses (through my nose) and get tissue from the places that showed up on the CAT scan, which turned out to not be sufficient for a conclusive biopsy. Yesterday's surgery was to get more tissue for a biopsy and to wash out my sinuses. A friend had sinus surgery a while back and said in hindsight he wishes he would've taken two weeks off work instead of one. It really leaves you feeling horrible and drained for a while.
Still waiting for biopsy results that will tell if the surgeon's original diagnosis of 'probable lymphoma' holds true. Again, he said yesterday's frozen section came back not showing cancer.
I go back to work tomorrow for the first time in almost two weeks. When I went to the consult with the surgeon on Oct. 8 I had no idea all of this would follow. I thought the neck surgeon would either take a needle biopsy of the place on my neck or possibly schedule surgery. But he, as it turned out, got the sinus surgeon to check the scans, and it all started from there. The neck surgeon is a professor of medicine at UAB and the sinus surgeon is an associate professor. The anesthesiologist from yesterday is a professor as well.
Human Resources at my employer, Jack Henry and Associates, has been extremely helpful in the process of filing short term disability for the time I've been out. If you have short-term and/or long-term disability where you work, it couldn't hurt to at least know who to contact if you ever need to.
Hopefully all that will fill in some blanks.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Today's surgery
The surgeon took a frozen section, which I still don't totally understand, today, going primarily through my cheek to my sinuses. He said the frozen section came back fine, which is very different from what he said last Tuesday. He also cleaned out my sinuses so I can breathe better now.
We're trusting that if anything was there before, it's gone now either through an earlier misdiagnosis or a direct answer to prayer (I ain't picky), and are waiting for the biopsy to come back for the definitive word. I'm still a bit groggy but Audrey made a great dinner, so I'm about to take another pain pill and visit the land of nod.
We're trusting that if anything was there before, it's gone now either through an earlier misdiagnosis or a direct answer to prayer (I ain't picky), and are waiting for the biopsy to come back for the definitive word. I'm still a bit groggy but Audrey made a great dinner, so I'm about to take another pain pill and visit the land of nod.
Monday, October 15, 2012
David Surrett - Health Matters
Hi all.
I figured creating this blog would be a good alternative to posting health updates to my Facebook wall. Whenever I have an update, I'll just make my status 'blog entry added' or something like that.
This all started about 2 months ago when I noticed a growth on the side of my neck that looked like a swollen gland. That's what my primary care doctor thought it was. When it didn't go down in 3 weeks he sent me to an ENT doctor, who happened to be on vacation for a week and a half. I finally got in the ENT's office and he ordered a CAT scan. He then recommended me to a neck surgeon, who saw the CAT scan and got a sinus surgeon to look at it. Both surgeons agreed they needed to focus on my sinuses, not my neck. I've never had any major sinus issues I'm aware of except allergies, hay fever, etc, but the ENT and both surgeons asked if I'd had sinus surgery. The sinus surgeon did surgery on my sinuses last Tuesday, October 9, and told my wife he'd found lymphoma. She told me early the next morning.
Folks from church have been great about bringing us food, so we've had once less thing to worry about.
The official biopsy was inconclusive since they somehow didn't get enough usable tissue. Apparently that's common, so now I have surgery again tomorrow morning. It shouldn't be as bad as the first one. The plans now are for me to go back to work this Thursday, and carry on until the biopsy comes back, and then the surgeon will recommend me to an oncologist. We don't know yet what stage anything is in, or any specific treatment plan.
I'll be careful about how much specific detail I put in the posts. Email me at dsurrett@yahoo.com with anything I don't cover in the blog.
I figured creating this blog would be a good alternative to posting health updates to my Facebook wall. Whenever I have an update, I'll just make my status 'blog entry added' or something like that.
This all started about 2 months ago when I noticed a growth on the side of my neck that looked like a swollen gland. That's what my primary care doctor thought it was. When it didn't go down in 3 weeks he sent me to an ENT doctor, who happened to be on vacation for a week and a half. I finally got in the ENT's office and he ordered a CAT scan. He then recommended me to a neck surgeon, who saw the CAT scan and got a sinus surgeon to look at it. Both surgeons agreed they needed to focus on my sinuses, not my neck. I've never had any major sinus issues I'm aware of except allergies, hay fever, etc, but the ENT and both surgeons asked if I'd had sinus surgery. The sinus surgeon did surgery on my sinuses last Tuesday, October 9, and told my wife he'd found lymphoma. She told me early the next morning.
Folks from church have been great about bringing us food, so we've had once less thing to worry about.
The official biopsy was inconclusive since they somehow didn't get enough usable tissue. Apparently that's common, so now I have surgery again tomorrow morning. It shouldn't be as bad as the first one. The plans now are for me to go back to work this Thursday, and carry on until the biopsy comes back, and then the surgeon will recommend me to an oncologist. We don't know yet what stage anything is in, or any specific treatment plan.
I'll be careful about how much specific detail I put in the posts. Email me at dsurrett@yahoo.com with anything I don't cover in the blog.
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