The doctor called today to discuss the test results. All pretty good news in that the blood work that was done at All Children's came back within the normal range along with no significant findings on the chest xray. The doc has much more confidence in the lab work that is done at the hospital than what comes out of the blood tests that are done in the doctors office. Lola's LDH reading that was done in the office could have been raised by the method in which the blood sample was obtained, which could damage the structure of the blood. A sinus infection could also affect it. I asked many questions related to the office tests and hospital tests and feel satisfied with the answers received. That in addition to the MRI results showing everything to be stable, we will stay the course and plan on Lola's next scan in 4 months.
I've been reading a lot about sarcomas and found a journal about a little girl that has also been fighting this type of cancer. What her mom wrote about the regular MRIs hit pretty close to home:
"the fear of recurrence fades in the months between scans and returns as the date of the scan approaches, then good news from the scans relieves the fear for a couple more months until the next one approaches, and so the cycle goes."
With that said, we're breathing a sigh of relief for now. Next scans will be done in early November.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
1 Week Later
The MRI and Xrays went as planned last week. We've been waiting on the results from the doctor. I called Lola's Oncologist office Thursday morning and had to leave a message with the answering service since the office had been 'displaced' I was told. Come to find out all that meant is there were so many people in the office out on vacation that they had everyone who wasn't on vacation working at another office. (hrumph).
Thursday afternoon I received the medical records from All Children's Hospital and it contained the report from the MRI. Lots of medical terms that I didn't quite understand, but the 'Impression' that was noted on the report was 'Paranasal Sinus Disease'. Of course I immediately went out on the internet and researched what that meant. Definitions ranged from a sinus infection to cancer within the sinus cavity. Of course I realize that sometimes too much information and what you read on the internet is not always a good thing, so we are not panicking over this, until we speak further with the Oncologist.
I received a call back on Friday from the Oncologist's Medical Assistant telling me that the MRI looked stable. She made no mention of anything else from the MRI report and she wasn't aware that I had received a copy of it. I believe she thought the bit of information she shared with me would satisfy things. This is not the case. Apparently there was another doctor in the practice that reviewed the MRI and signed off on it with this result so she could call me. This doctor obviously was not aware of the elevated LDH levels, nor did he or the MA know that we had additional blood work done at the hospital on Friday and also an Xray of her chest. I pressed the MA for further information about these tests and for the doctor to address the root issue which is the elevated LDH levels. The doctor had already left the office for the day, so she is going to have him call me on Monday to discuss further. (double hrumph)
I'm hopeful that a simple explanation is that she has a basic sinus infection which could cause an elevation in LDH levels (not really sure if this is possible, but one can hope!) . This would certainly relieve some of our worry, but I continue to question why Lola's LDH levels have never returned to the normal range since her resection last year. My gut instinct tells me that something is festering. Worst case scenario is that we will be in for a barrage of tests to gain further information.
More when we get it.
Thursday afternoon I received the medical records from All Children's Hospital and it contained the report from the MRI. Lots of medical terms that I didn't quite understand, but the 'Impression' that was noted on the report was 'Paranasal Sinus Disease'. Of course I immediately went out on the internet and researched what that meant. Definitions ranged from a sinus infection to cancer within the sinus cavity. Of course I realize that sometimes too much information and what you read on the internet is not always a good thing, so we are not panicking over this, until we speak further with the Oncologist.
I received a call back on Friday from the Oncologist's Medical Assistant telling me that the MRI looked stable. She made no mention of anything else from the MRI report and she wasn't aware that I had received a copy of it. I believe she thought the bit of information she shared with me would satisfy things. This is not the case. Apparently there was another doctor in the practice that reviewed the MRI and signed off on it with this result so she could call me. This doctor obviously was not aware of the elevated LDH levels, nor did he or the MA know that we had additional blood work done at the hospital on Friday and also an Xray of her chest. I pressed the MA for further information about these tests and for the doctor to address the root issue which is the elevated LDH levels. The doctor had already left the office for the day, so she is going to have him call me on Monday to discuss further. (double hrumph)
I'm hopeful that a simple explanation is that she has a basic sinus infection which could cause an elevation in LDH levels (not really sure if this is possible, but one can hope!) . This would certainly relieve some of our worry, but I continue to question why Lola's LDH levels have never returned to the normal range since her resection last year. My gut instinct tells me that something is festering. Worst case scenario is that we will be in for a barrage of tests to gain further information.
More when we get it.
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