For what it is worth, Nelie, my CT scan of the lungs keep showing up things like renal cysts, pancreatic cysts and gall bladder ademomyomatosis, but no one seems concerned except the lung dr. who keeps insisting I see another dr to find out if anything is wrong.

The first time this was seen was 2003. If I hadn't lost a cat to pancreatic cancer last spring, I'd probably ignore this but since I did, I just got another CT scan and saw pancreatic surgeon. No one has gotten back to me with results. I guess it is not bad but will if I don't hear from them.

My point to you. Radiologists see all sorts to things on scans that were not what was supposed to be what they are looking for. Some of this is benign and no one would have ever knwon it was there if a dr hadn't run us through this scan.
So don't panic because a lesion is reported by radiolgist just doing his job, just get it checked out.

Take care,
Eileen

Thanks for the encouragement, Paula and Eileen.

I had my esophagus dilated again yesterday--still very sore from it today. Maybe that will last em a while. I also found out that "bougie" means "pencil" in French (this must be a French vocab word I never had) and that the thoracic surgeon who has been dealing with the esophagus stuff does think that if I can learn to use one it would help keep my esophagus open--it is essentially the same thing they use for dilations (he also said "it's like learning sword swallowing"). He gave me info. about what size I would need so now I need to go back to my ENT here and see if he can order it and help me learn to use it (hopefully). I'll keep you all updated!

I also went to see the neurologist last week about the incidental MRI finding and he showed me this benign "growth"--the meningioma (he didn't use the word tumor I think because he didn't want to scare me). It's a sizable thing in there--as he put it the size of a very large olive or a very small plum (the human brain is about the size of a cantalope so that gives you some idea of how much space it takes up). He said if it was rapidly growing my brain would show signs of swelling--there are none. Which probably means this thing has been growing slowly for decades to reach that size, the brain has just been slowly folding around it to accomodate it, and it may never cause any symptoms and thus never have to be removed. I have another MRI in 4 months so we can see if it has grown at all in that time and that will give more info. about whether I need to plan on having brain surgery sometime in my future. I have come to agree with you Paula that finding this was a "good mistake", though it took me a while to get rational enough to reach that conclusion!

I am still waiting to hear about the results from the PET scan I had last week. Hoping for the best. And trying to swallow. Now I have to get into work before the snow hits!

Nelie

Nelie-
What really good news. No cancer!. Anything that is not cancer seems almost not important- I know that's not true but there have been so many cancer reoccurences lately and anyhting I respond with seems so inadequate. It can be any of us or our loved ones. Keep swallowing. Fantasize your dream lunch and remember I'm buying.

Paula

Nelie - The translation of "bougie" is "candle". In research, French words are often used to describe like items or items that have the same shape (tapered at one end?) and this one is probably found in a medical dictionary which I don't have right now (I retired from teaching French and translating about a year ago). Re the Cat scan that Eileen mentioned - my son's scan also showed something that looked like cancer in a lymph node which wasn't there when they did his surgery. Do keep hoping for the best and staying positive. I'll certainly be sending positive vibes your way.

Thanks Anne-Marie, especially for the correct French translation of bougie. Apparently my thoracic surgeon wasn't fluent in French either (he's the one who told me it was French for "pencil"). I'm guessing it is something candle-like in shape....

Paula, Hold those "no cancer" thoughts until I get back the results of my PET scan. Then I will really celebrate since today is the 2 year anniversary of my partial glossectomy and selective neck dissection and that is the last time that I had any known cancer in me (though I did go on to have rad and chemo just to be safe).

Nelie

I had 3 dilations and went to a speech therapist for a swallowing therapy called Vitalstim. I've been eating like a horse ever since. Good Luck