Well it seems that the Larry story continues even after he is sitting in some fermenting liquid or whatever liquid a biopsy sample sits in. Maybe it is just sitting in some simple saline….not sure, but can only imagine. 🙂
So I had the surgery on Wednesday, the surgeon removed the full lymph node, which is what we were hoping. Seems like it is the size that Dr. Chen had hoped. We got home about 6:30 and the pain was pretty reasonable. Of course, I did keep checking my email to see if any test results were posted to MyChart. Mid afternoon on Friday some Flow Cytometry results were posted online. Not sure if this is the only test they do, but so far that was all that was posted. Reading through it there was mention of T Cell with an increased CD4:CD8 ratio and something about CD19+ polytypic cells, but not really a full explanation of what all of this means. Of course, I did some Googling to try to get answers, which really didn’t help. Then a few minutes later, the surgeon, Dr. Rohman posted a message “Your full pathology report is still pending. I got a call from your reading pathologist and he is going to get a second opinion from an expert in the field at the NIH. He thinks it will be done by next Friday.” I believe NIH is National Institute of Health, which I found by Googling also. Looks like their main focus is medical research. Strange that they would get a 2nd from there rather than someplace like Mayo?!? So now more waiting….
The healing seems to be going ok. But I do have to say that this incision seems to hurt more than my thigh did! :-). Probably because this one is fresh and the thigh is getting old, but this one, is causing pain down in to the muscles of my neck and shoulder. I did play the keyboard for a little while but that muscle did not like that movement. The Tylenol and ibuprofen seem to dull the pain, which is nice.
It is a bummer that I have to again wait on results….waiting is difficult and I can’t help but keep checking my email to see if any updates have come in via email notification. And it is so hard not to Google…LOL. I know people will say don’t worry, doesn’t make sense to worry about something that I don’t even know is anything. And I tell myself that…don’t worry, let God take control, but with that pain in my neck pretty constant, it is hard not to think about it. I try to watch my dumb shows, continue reading and crocheting, but my mind just tends to wander with any little break.
But Larry, dog gone it …. You just do not want to give up pestering me!!! I thought that once the surgeon took you out you would go away and find someone else to bother in the Methodist lab. But noooooo, you have to keep your nastiness alive and in my brain!! I think Larry and Ted the Tumor must have conspired just before Ted was removed and they figured out a way to still be a bother even after both were removed. So even though Ted is gone, his good friend Larry may be gone, but not forgotten quite yet. I would assume once someone hears from the NIH they will let Dr. Rohman know or she will let Dr. Chen know and we will hear what the final assessment is on Larry. Hoping the wait is not TOO long!!
Thanks for stopping in! Take care and keep the sun in your day. 🙂
Dandy Ventures 