Well, it's been a while since I posted and that's mainly because I got some bad results in my scans which has led to me staying away from the site.
Anyway, my post chemo ct went great and I had about five days in a bubble of relief until my PET came back. Turned out there were some active areas on my back (as well as more lymph nodes being active in my abdomen within the resection margins). In my appointment with my surgeon he found a lump on my back, and another cyst that I'd had for a long while had become a little larger. Damn.
I was scheduled that Wednesday for a laparoscopy anyway, and he went further to tell me that because my tumour has penetrated throigh the other side of my oesophagus, it was high risk that some cells would have shed into my abdomen, which would become clear on the wash. Previously, when I'd had worrying results from scans I'd asked him for the percentage chance it had spread. He'd always given me a figure. This time all he would say is that he was very concerned.
I had a lovely weekend googling subcutaneous cysts and how likely they are to show up on a pet scan (not very, in fact, not really at all). I get the impression that were it not for my sarcoidosis and the potential for it lighting up on the scan, they would have called game over there and then.
Anyway, the laparoscopy passed without incident (much more painful this time though) at which time they removed the lumps from my back, and over the following 4 or 5 days I came to terms with having a limited life. I suppose that's something everyone has to do with cancer, but that knowledge doesn't make it any easier.
Then, on Monday at 5:45 my specialist nurse called. I could tell straight away by how cheery she sounded that I was unbelievably going to get good news. The stomach wash came back negative, and the lumps on my back were epidermal cysts. Having subsequently googled, I can only find a couple of times that these have been noted as avid on a pet. I couldn't believe it. It actually took a day or so for me to fully digest the news.
So, now I'm waiting for an appointment with my surgeon to find out if they're going to do any more tests or go ahead with the surgery in a few weeks.
Oh, and I get married next Saturday.
