#50541 09-17-2003 08:32 AM | Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 642 "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts) | "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts) Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 642 | Dinah, Send me one too. I also could not locate your email address.
It seems like a lot of folks here have been given PET scans. I know that we have discussed this here before, but I have never been offered one and my doctors don't seem interested in doing one. Of course the story above depicts what I have been told is the downside of PET scans...that they give false positives that lead to other intrusive tests, which often show no cancer. Oh well.
Danny G.
Stage IV Base of Tongue SCC Diagnosed July 1, 2002, chemo and radiation treatments completed beginning of Sept/02.
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#50542 09-17-2003 11:47 AM | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 188 Gold Member (100+ posts) | Gold Member (100+ posts) Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 188 | Anita.....What Powerlifter said was right on the money.....the first year out from treatment I spent a LOT of time at the Doctors office. I watched my mouth so closely that half the time I imagined something HAD to be wrong. Then, like Powerlifter, my bone started protruding from my gums.....I thought cancer for sure; my bones in my jaw were dying because of cancer. The worst possible thing and it was happening to me. Then during a normal CT scan there was a "spot" on my lung. Oh boy, I thought I was a gonner for sure this time. The cancer has surely spread. Headache? Brain tumor, of course. What else could it be? Slowly I began to realize that so many things besides cancer can go wrong with our bodies that until you hear you have a recurrence or the word CANCER don't even think about it. A 'spot' on the lung for instance can be so many different things; my spot was walking pneumonia. The headache was.....well, just a headache. As time passes this will get much easier for you, really it will. Right now you're still feeling scared and vunerable -- this too shall pass. Like Gary says: One day at a time. And really, that is the best we can all hope for....one day at a time. You'll have plenty of time to worry AFTER a cancer diagnoses, no sense starting one second before. Plus, there is a very very good chance you'll never have to worry again. Sincerely, Donna
SCC first time 1989, with a diagnoses of 'cancer in situ' removed lesion, no other treatments. SCC recurrence 1997 of tongue and floor of the mouth. Stage III /IV Hemmiglossectomy (removed over 60% of tongue/ floor of the mouth), free flap, modified neck, RAD and Chemo(cisplatin, 5fu) simutainously. Cancer free 6, yes, six, years!
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#50543 09-18-2003 12:06 AM | Joined: Apr 2002 Posts: 273 Platinum Member (200+ posts) | Platinum Member (200+ posts) Joined: Apr 2002 Posts: 273 | Danny, about Pet scans, Packer was never offered one in the past 5 years til we went to Dana Farber, they did Pet, Cat, and MRI, from what I understand is that Pet will pick up cancer cells sooner that Cat and MRI....Packer had a clear Cat Scan in March, and the end of July he another, which picked up a 16 mm tumor,I wonder if a Pet scan in March would have picked it up sooner.....it hasn`t grown much since July, so something tells me it was there in March and the Cat didn`t pick it up.............Dana Farber does all 3 tests, to compare results..........Dee | | |
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