I went to visit a new member of my treatment team, Dr. Minnich. He is a thoracic surgeon and he went over the procedure that I will have tomorrow. Basic information is about all we discussed. He asked if I had any questions and I asked about other possibilities that could lead to a collapsed lung other than a tumor. He talked about pneumonia or other viral infections but mentioned that I was not presenting with a fever or other signs of an infection. He stated that that had him most concerned regarding my previous history of rectal cancer. I then asked about prognosis if it is metastasis and he stated that I would have to undergo a PET scan to quanitify the tumor location and grade. He mentioned that there would be a low probability that it would be a primary secondary cancer and that if it is cancer that it is probably metastasis. I will have preliminay pathology reports regarding any biopsy immediately after the procedure, but final results will be a couple of days. Given this information he stated that chemotherapy is the usual approach with a PET scan to determine surgical options...sigh!
Keep your fingers crossed and prayers coming that it is not a tumor. I, or Kimberly, will post tomorrow to let everyone know the results.
Peace,
Josh
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