Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/12/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]we're rooting for you erre and have confidence in your tough attitude ric > On Dec 25, 2014, at 7:04 PM, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote: > > Since everyone regards LUG as family and reports their health issues, I?ll > throw mine in. This won?t be real short, because the details are > interesting. > > In 2001, my PSA jumped and I had the uncomfortable needle biopsy via > ass-hole. Of nine needles, one picked up a couple of millimeters of malign > cells which were pronounced to be aggressive. I then had many sessions of > what is misnamed ?Intensity modulated radiation therapy?. Actually what > happens is the source of the radiation rotates in a vertical plane around > the patient and during the rotation, the shape of the beam is modulated by > a diaphragm of tungsten fingers so as to always concentrate the radiation > on the desired site. One time, I was really scared because the treatment > was delated due to a computer crash, and when I asked what the computer > program was housed in, they said Windows 2000. > > Every year since, my PSA was checked and my prostate poked by the > radiation oncologist. > > A couple of months ago, I felt a sore muscle in my left thigh; I just > thought it was a pulled muscle, and Naproxen relieved it. But just one > day, it was so sever that I was limping, so I thought it would be a good > idea to go to my primary care quack and check it out. When she pulled my > leg outward, I yelled ?ouch? and she ordered a hip X-ray to be done on my > way out. > > By the time I got home, there was a frightful message on my answering > machine. I was to go asap to the Stanford Hospital site in a neighboring > city (Redwood City) where an appointment had been set up for a CAT scan. > Then I was to drive straight to the Main Hospital at Stanford (Palo Alto) > and see the same radiation oncologist. Also they were setting up an > appointment, probably for the next day, for a radioactive bone scan. > > The radiation oncologist showed me the X-rays and Cat scans on his > computer screen. First there was a large lesion on my left femur. Then > there was a bunch of little dots in my lungs that were not there two years > ago. I said I was appalled. He said he was appalled. He then opined that > my hip was about to break, that he checked that an orthopedic surgeon was > available on or immediately after the weekend, and that the quickest way > to get admitted to the hospital was via the emergency room. He had his > resident wheel me there. > > Well, on the way in, the rent-a-cop confiscated my Swiss army knife, and > when it was apparent with a packed ER that I?d be there for a while, I got > around to phoning my wife. They were so packed that I had to wait until > there was a free bed. > > After the routine things, mainly a blood draw, an orthopedic guy showed > up. He said that there was no danger of a fracture, that I should go home > and have a normal weekend, and that an appointment had been made to see an > orthopedic surgeon on the following Tuesday. I guess it was probably > thirty years since the radiation oncologist had learned to interpret that > sort of X-ray. > > On that day, my wife went along for moral support. Interestingly enough, > all three of us in the room had something in common: doctorates from the > University of Chicago, mine in physics, Lee?s in biochemistry, and the > surgeon whatever real doctors get. The latter spent most of the forty-five > minutes teaching me how to read the X-ray, primarily why it showed that > there was no current risk of a fracture. When I inquired about either > surgical support of the bone or just drilling to get a sample for a > biopsy, he said that the risks outweighed the benefits. He said it was > probably metastatic prostate cancer, slow-growing, and tending to deposit > bone. Next appointment in a month with immediately preceding X-ray to > assess fracture risk. > > I finally got to see a medical oncologist. She indicated that this kind of > cancer without PSA rising is very rare, but does happen. She felt that we > had to know what we were dealing with, and if the surgeon reported that > there was no way to get a sample with a needle, she was going to make the > assumption that those dots on my lungs were not an infection residue but > were the same tumor, and one of them was very accessible to a cat scan > guided needle. > > I?m waiting for that and will keep you posted. I?ll be 93 in June. I doubt > that I?ll make 100. > > Herb > > > > Herbert Kanner > kanner at acm.org > 650-326-8204 > > Question authority and the authorities will question you. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information