So far I’ve been very fortunate compared to a lot of thymus carcinoma patients. In March 2019 I was have trouble taking a deep breath, so my doctor ordered a CAT scan thinking I might have lung cancer. I then had a CAT scan with dye and then a PET scan. The PET scan showed two spots around the thymus and one spot on what they thought was my lung. I was sent to a cardiac surgeon. They then ordered a biopsy on the spot on my lung and it was cancerous. So we scheduled surgery to remove everything. On May 8, 2019 they opened up my chest and removed the two spots on the thymus, the spot on my lung was actually on my back rib, and they ended up taking the rib because the cancer wouldn’t come off. They also removed 20 lymph node, 5 of them being cancerous. After 5 days in the hospital they sent me home to recover. About a month later I went to see my oncologist for the first time and he said he had consulted with someone from U of M about my case, and they decided to do nothing else at this time. That concerned me because we know it had spread, so I went for a second option to Dr. Lehrer in Indianapolis. He agreed that nothing needed to be done at this time because all the cancer had been removed with the surgery. Why give me chemo and all those chemical if there was nothing to see if it was working or not because I didn’t have any cancer left in my body. It made sense to me and I was very grateful I didn’t have to go through any of that. I had my first CAT scan since the surgery the first of August and nothing showed up on the scan. I go get a CAT scan every 4 months for the next couple of years and if I stay cancer free, then it will be extended to every 6 months and so on. So I just hope and pray I can stay cancer free.
2019-11-13