Biopsy tissue blocks and another CT scan

In my last post I mentioned that there wasn’t enough tissue in the biopsy sample to generate a complete diagnosis. That was wrong. Biopsy tissue was placed in many tissue blocks and those blocks were sent to MD Anderson in Houston, a lab in Boston, and perhaps other places for analysis. In one of those tissue blocks there wasn’t enough tissue for further testing, but there was plenty of tissue in all of the blocks combined for a complete diagnostic analysis. We expect to get that diagnosis early next week.

In the meantime, the probable diagnosis we’ve been given is “non-small cell, non-squamous carcinoma of unknown primary.” “Unknown primary” means they cannot determine if it is lung cancer, a metastasis of my prostate cancer from 10 years ago, or something else.

Last Wednesday I got a CT scan that was compared with the CT scan from December 17. The comparison showed that the lung tumor is shrinking (due to radiation) but the liver and rib lesions are growing. Therefore, I’m scheduled to begin chemo on Thursday the 14th but when more results are available from the biopsy that may change.

I’m also scheduled for a Stereotaxic Radiosurgery (aka Gamma Knife) procedure on the lesion in my brain on the 21st. It’s not surgery but rather some kind of laser procedure that I don’t fully understand yet.

The fatigue from the radiation treatments (9 down, 6 to go) is – well, it’s interesting. There are days like last Monday when I’m so wiped out I can barely function. And there are days like yesterday when I ran several errands with no problem. This morning Joanie and I went to Best Buy to return something and when we got back home I laid down and fell asleep for over an hour even though my Fitbit says I got almost 9 hours of sleep last night. Every day is different and there’s no way to predict in advance how much energy or fatigue I’m going to have.

We got a new tablet computer – a Microsoft Surface Pro X – a few days ago to replace our ancient Surface Pro 2 and I’ve been spending a little bit of time every day getting it set up. About all that’s left is to install Microsoft Office 365 and the driver for our printer, and I hope to get that done later this afternoon. It’s always fun to get new electronics!

Comments

  1. FranciscoJanuary 10, 2021 at 7:39 AM

    Ken,
    We are thinking about you and Gigi and will continue to ask for God’s touch for a full recovery. Treatments sound like the latest on state of the art. We will stay tuned to read about your review on new Surface Pro X!
    Truly,
    Paco and Made

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cathy HallJanuary 10, 2021 at 3:22 PM

    Glad you have energy days & a new toy - oh my! 😃

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJanuary 10, 2021 at 4:28 PM

    Ken, thank you so much for sharing this blog with us. Mary and I were saddened by the news that Joanie had shared with us a few days ago. I tried to post on the blog at that time but had not registered. Wanted to let you know that you are in our prayers and that we are here for you and will help in any way that we can. Really miss the times on Sunday mornings when we were able to fellowship together pre COVID-19.

    In CHRIST
    Bob & Mary Flinchbaugh

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rob McLemoreJanuary 12, 2021 at 4:24 AM

    Love your attitude Ken! Stay strong, Judy and I are thinking about you. As soon as you are strong enough we are going to have to get your quartet together with the HLC guitar pickers and record Seven Bridges Road.

    Rob McLemore

    ReplyDelete

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