Deja vu again-biopsy edition!

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2 weeks ago, an attempt was made to do an aspiration of an incidentaloma (!) on the remaining right adrenal gland. DZoctor tells you what will be done, and scheduling at hospital calls to schedule day & time. All very routine.

I get to the CT, strapped in, no heavy sedation yet, and they take a scan-just like the dozens I've had in 30 months. The Doc/APRN gets me out of the thing, and tells me he can't do it. He points at the slice of me that matters, and says the liver, lungs and heart vessels make it impossible to get to.

I hear nothing from prescribing/requesting cancer doc... And the, the other day, scheduling at the local hospital calls. For what, you ask? To schedule an aspiration of my right adrenal gland's incidentaloma(!)... AGAIN. They didn't know about the first attempt.

I write my doctor, as I only have a few days until it's scheduled (IOW, little time to cancel if in error), and express my confusion... 

"Oh, sorry about that. We're having another doctor try it."

OK, that aside... Here is the part of this that... ...irks me: The CT scan they did that day was the same as dozens (not exaggerating) already taken-all recently. How far was my liver going to move in a month-especially showing no trends in moving over 30 months? How much should my right lung have moved?

At the time, they said the scan was to see if it could be done. What was the motivation for yet another redundant scan?

On our side of the puddle, it always boils down to money. They do them because the know Insurance will pay them for it. I don't seed anything ($), but the hospital gets to charge for another useless scan. I know they aren't a charity, but really?

Do they do this annoying stuff over there?

  • Hi  

    It sounds like you've been going through a very trying time!

    I'm not a member of this forum but noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet. Responding to you will 'bump' it back to the top of the discussion list again.

    While you're waiting for replies, it would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment to date into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

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  • Well, the biopsy did show that the mass on the right adrenal is cancerous (same thing, kidney cancer), and so they just want to lop off my only remaining adrenal gland.

    Why not just take the tumor off the gland?

    So tomorrow I meet with the same surgeon who took the huge mass, kidney, adrenal gland out of my left side.

    I don't expect much, as I already know what they want to do. Boy the biopsy was wild (the 2nd one). The Dr. told me that the newer doctors didn't know that there is a software upgrade that allows the CT to do steep angles instead of the orthogonal ones we're used to.

    In short, they get the CT to show the target (incidentaloma). Then, they place the needle on the skin where it has to go in (because there is no clear shot if the needle is 90deg angle). Once they can swing the CT enough to see BOTH  the target & needle, they guide the needle in, using the CT to keep the two aligned on the way in.

    Does anybody understand my attempt to be trite/short?

  • UPDATE: Before they commit to laparoscopy on the right adrenal incidentaloma, they wanted a PET scan. Did that yesterday, and cancer doc called to say that there are no new kidney (or other) cancers seen (yay!).

    Next is endocrinologist to determine my 'supplements' due to losing bother adrenals...

    Looking forward to stiches being 1" instead of 58 for the left kidney! Youch!