mementos

this is me:

as i've told you before, and you can plainly see, my lungs are HUGE.

i was also able to get a copy of my ct scan, where you can see the tumor much better.

those two large black circles are my lungs. the view here is if you had cut off the top of my torso and were looking down at my lungs. the white penny-sized dot on the left black circle is the tumor on my lung. it is at the very top of my left lung, where my collar bone meets my ribs.

kinda cool, huh? except for the whole tumor part.

out.
- L

my, what large LUNGS you have!

had my first appointment with the pulmonary doctor on friday. her first comment to me, after reviewing my xray and CT scan, were how beautiful my lungs are. apparently mine are just HUGE.

the doctor talked to me for a while about what may have caused the tumor on my lung. she asked about my smoking history and family history. she said it could have been caused by an infection that i didn't even know i had, like valley fever. so, to test if that is the cause, she ran some blood tests.

in three months i will have another scan to see if the tumor grew. if it did, my doctor will order a biopsy. that's where they take a needle and stab me in the chest with it to cut out a piece of the tumor. as you might expect, i'm really hoping that is not necessary.

i did get to see the results of my scan on screen. the tumor is on the upper part of my left lung, almost at the tip. it's about the size of a penny.

out.

- L

well, it's not pizza!

i was kind of hoping the CT scan would show that little spot on my lung was a piece of pizza that got lost on its way down. unfortunately, no such luck.

turns out i have a tumor on my left lung with benign appearances. they're not certain its benign, as no biopsy was performed, but given my age and low risk factors, the doctors feel comfortable waiting 6-12 months to perform another CT scan to see if the tumor is growing.

so, fairly good news. would have been better if it was just a piece of pizza, though.

"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the former." - Einstein

- L