Been in the hospital
 

What a week.

I've been out of touch lately and in the hospital because of two episodes of coughing up blood.

I wasn't having coughing fits, but rather the blood came up and caused me to cough.

At this time the cause is unknown.

Last Tuesday I had a broncoscopy, and the preliminary results are negative for a bacteria or fungal infection, both of which can cause coughing up blood, and the culture is still growing to determine whether there is any cancer. However, if there is cancer, it's probably not causing the problem.

I had a PET/CT scan early January as a second follow-up to the lung radiofrequency ablation I had in August. The RFA was to ablate a recurrence of a single met removed by a wedge resection in April 2007. The scan lit up a lot, but two radiologists and a pulmonologist could not determine whether cancer or inflammation was causing the hypermetabolic activity. Some of my bronchial tubes and a hilar lymph node also lit up, but there were not nodules present.

The doctors decided not to prescribe antibiotics in the event that there was an infection causing the inflammation, becaue I had no symtoms, and we decided to wait and repeat the scan in three months.

It may be that the PET/CT results and the coughing up blood are coincidental. That is, the bleeding could be caused by necrosis of the tumor ablated in August impinging on a blood vessel in the lung (the broncoscopy did not enter the lung, but the pulmonoloigst determined that the bleeding was coming from the bronchus connected to the ablated area).

The doctors were almost 100% sure that the bleeding was due to an infection. The growth of bacteria and fungas can be common after RFA as the ablation creates a cavity around the tumor which can be a haven.

The nurse in the pulmonolist's office called with the preliminary results and was not able to answser some of my questions, such as what do I do if in the final analysis there's no bacteria or fungus.

I have to wait to hear about whether there are any cancer cells in the bronchial wash. The results will determine whether I go on chemo again (although my onc and I are considering adding Tykerb but are waiting to repeat a brian MRI which will be a follow up to the brain surgery I had in October and the stereostatic radiotherapy that followed).

I've been back to work and very busy.

Joan sorry to hear you had such a crazy week. I hope that things work out for you and you get some solid answers. In the meantime, you are in my prayers.

Hey Joan,

I'm sorry to hear you are having issues. I hope things calm down and work out with good results.

Hi Joan! Good grief! What a week you have had. Please let us know when they determine what is causing the problems. Best wishes for a quick resolution to the problem. ma

Love to you, Joan
 

My love and best wishes to you for Valentine's Day, Joan. Remember, deep breaths in...slow breath out. Keep up the good faith and the good fight.
Celeste

You have been on my mind all last week and I was logging on to pm you just now so I am so glad to hear from you.

How are you feeling overall? Any better?

Please keep posting to let us know what's going on. Take good care. Flori

Dear Joan

I was wondering where you have been and thought about you today when I went over to New Hope.

I am glad you are recuperating - and enough so you can go back to work.

Love and hugs

Joan, Hope everything turns out ok. I am praying for you.

Been in the hospital
 

I am sorry to hear about your struggles.
What an experience !!
It sounds like you still putting one foot in front of the other, so that's great.
Positive thoughts and vibes going your way from Hawaii.

Hi Joan,
I have missed you and have been thinking of you.
I am sorry to hear all that you have gone through.
You are just amazing, back to work up and running.
Sending you my very best wishes.

Hugs,
jean

Thinking of you, too, Joan and hoping for a positive result. xo Ceesun

Praying for you, JOAN. Hope you are feeling better. So sorry for the past week and your struggles. Much love and healing energy to you, Vickie

Joan,

I am so sorry that you have had to go through this. You are very strong and I am humbled by reading your post. I am praying that things get resolved quickly and that none of this has anything to do with cancer.

much love,
Tonya

Hi Joan,

I am also sorry to hear of these new mysteries. You are strong, and I am wishing you well!

Rebecca

Wow Joan, all that and you are already back to work? You are amazing. Please let us know when you get your results.

Take good care,

Dear Joan - I know you are busy and have a demanding job, but treatment is really tough on us. Please give yourself time to heal. I wish we had a better safety net in this country.

Just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you......I hope it all comes out top notch and passes by!

Dear Joan,
Sending my good thoughts for good news on the "wash" and hoping you will get to feeling better!
Marcia

Dear Joan -
WOW - that was scary, huh?
Knowing you had some treatment recently, and that the staff could pinpoint the source of the blood, is a bit of a comfort. I just pray that the fluid they took will not have any cancer cells.

I know it is nearly impossible to rest or get the sleep you need in the hospital, so hope you can cut yourself a break and ease back in to normal routine.

Your support and prayers make me feel a lot better. Everytime I think I'm clear, something else happens. I'm hoping to get more definitive tests results from the doctors in the coming week and to find out whether there's any cancer. It's hard to wait though. I'll let you know.

Joan