Results of recent tests
A while ago, Doctor Bentz mentioned that if mucoepidermoid carcinoma spreads, it usually goes to the lungs, so he scheduled an x-ray of my chest. That was said to be inconclusive, so a CT scan was recommended. It could be squamous cell carcinoma, or it could be an infection of some sort. It sounded like neither was good, but treatment would be different if it were an infection. The radiologist in charge of the CT scan was also uncertain, so a biopsy was recommended. This was done in the CT scanner, so they could be certain that the needle got into the right place. Evidently the CT scan provides real-time, three dimensional imaging. This makes me wonder if that is how Dr. Day did the ablation on my heart. Anyway, their target was the largest of the 9-10 nodules that showed up on the earlier scan. As I recall, it was said to be about 3 cm in diameter. I have yet to see a written report of the biopsy, but on Wednesday, the 21st, Dr. Bentz called me from his cell phone, since he was on his way to California for the holiday, and said that it was definitely cancer, although I got the idea that Dr. Bentz did not agree that it was squamous cell carcinoma. How could it be that, when the source was most likely from the parotid gland, which was of the mucoepidermoid type. He said that his nurse would be setting up an appointment with the oncologist. We did not hear from Michelle until Monday. The appointment is for the 5th of December with Dr. Grossman, who managed my chemo last year.
Back to the mucoepidermoid vs. squamous cell issue. These two carcinomas seem to have a lot in common, and are fairly easily confused. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) appears to be more common, and has several sub-classifications. It originates in the squamous cells of the epithelium, part of the epidermis, and is one of the most common forms of skin cancer. It has been called epidermoid carcinoma, and squamous cell epithelioma.
On the other hand, Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (to be distinguished from epidermoid carcinoma) is the most common type of salivary gland malignancy in adults. It involves squamous cells, but is differentiated from squamous cell carcinoma because of it behavior. There are two types of tumors: low-grade, and high grade. The prognosis is good for the low grade type, not so good for the high grade. As you know from previous entries in this blog, my cancer first appeared in the parotid gland, which is a salivary gland. And the doctors treating me seem to agree that it is muco. . . rather than squamous . . . Moreover, they seem to agree that it is of the high grade type.
Well, that capsulizes what I have learned so far. I will post additional info when I get it, and KayLyn has set things up so that so of you will be notified when there is something new posted here. I wish we could e-mail all of you, but this is a free blog, so I guess beggars can't be choosers.
More later.
Thanks for the info, Dad. I know your appointment isn't until Wednesday next week. Is that when you'll find out what cancer it is, as well as th suggested treatment?
ReplyDeleteI did get an emails notification, which included the whole text of your post a well. To comment here, all I had to do was click on a link in the email. Is there some other functionality you were hoping for from the blog, or do you just prefer direct emails regardless?
I suppose you did say that the doctors treating you seem to agree that it's the high grade muco - but that doesn't sound very certain to me for some reason. I'll watch for more info after Wednesday. Love you, Dad!
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