CT Results

[Creed3]

Hi Everyone!
My hubby called for the results of my CT Scan today. I was too chicken to call. If you don't remember, the reason I had the scan done was because I had blood in my urine a few weeks back.
The results have shown that there is nothing there to indicate the reason for the blood in the urine. The only thing they did see on the scan was that I have small gallstones. Does anyone here know anything about gallstones?
I am having my cystoscopy tomorrow morning to check my bladder. Hopefully everything there will come back ok. I'll let you all know.

Take Care!
Gail

PS
I had to have a test done for strepp throat yesterday. It came back negative. With the kids being so sick and having strepp throat I decided I should be safe and check it out. I guess it is just a viral respiratory infection.

 

[Karlynn]

Good news on the CT results and good luck with your test tomorrow.

 

[Ross]

Don't be surprised if you bleed a for a little while after the cytoscopy.

 

[Marguerite53]

glad it's not your heart!

glad it's not your heart!

Hi. Glad that you got results you can live with! Good luck on the next test!

Sorry that your little angels are so sick. Some things that have worked in my home to keep things from spreading around the house were: Use paper towels, no hand towels in the bathrooms while people are sick. Make sure everyone in the house has their very own tube of toothpaste. Make hand washing a priority! For those who can, try drinking alot of orange juice (we buy Odwalla flash pasteruized from Costco -- we thought once the kids were gone to college we wouldn't go through so much, my husband and I go through a gallon a week, at least. Really helps!)

Good luck! Let us know!

Marguerite

 

[Cris N]

Happy to hear there's nothing new wrong with your heart. Can't really help with the gallstone issue except to say I hope it doesn't turn out to be a problem for you. Hope the munchkins get better soon. Best of luck with the other test!

Cris

 

[Christina L]

I was so glad

I was so glad

to see the thread from you Gail, telling the great results of the CT scan. I have heard CT scans are very thorough, so if nothing showed up except a few small gallstones, you are gonna be fine. BTW, I can't really tell you anything about gallstones, except a lot of people have them and they seem to be a very fixable problem.

Will be waiting to hear about the scope, but know it will be negative also.


Christina L

 

[Creed3]

Other Results

Other Results

My pcp called me this morning and told me that my ct scan also indicated I have a small cyst on my liver. Now I am totally freaking out. He told me it is nothing to worry about and that they will check it again in six months by doing another scan. I am totally freaking now. I am thinking I have cancer now.

Please any opinions are welcomed.

Take Care!
Gail

 

[Karlynn]

Basically, a cyst is filled with fluid. A tumor is dense. While they can't be 100% sure, they probably have a good idea by the look of the object on a CT whether or not it is a cyst or tumor. If it had been dense, or tumor like, I doubt that he would wait 6 months to look at it again particularly with it on the liver. I would imagine he would have scheduled you for a biopsy.

My husband's tumor on his neck was never refered to as a cyst after his CT scan. Prior to it, they were calling it a cyst because it felt like it had fluid in it. The CT showed mainly a dense mass. His tumor was benign. Which is something to remember as well, not all tumors are cancer.

Why don't you ask for a 2nd opinion on the CT scan? This doctor didn't tell you of the cyst until the 2nd post-CT chat. Which tells me it's not a big worry for him. However, if you will rest easier, ask to have it read by another doctor, just to varify the results.

 

[catwoman]

Gail:

My cousin went through a similar situation earlier this year. The "cyst" on her liver was a hemangioma, a benign tumor (per Webster's) consisting of blood vessels. Some people have dermatological hemangiomas (birthmarks). Hepatic hemangiomas are fairly common. Donna will have a repeat CT pretty soon.
If you have hepatic hemangiomas, there's probably no need to do anything about them.
I have vaginal hemangiomas, which an OB/GYN removed in the mid-1970s, thinking they were perhaps melanoma; they came back despite laser surgery.

My PCP has found that warfarin patients have a higher incidence of blood cells in the urine. My first post-op urinalysis found blood cells, and he wanted to rule out any cancer. I consented to one test, which was perfect, and passed on the others. Subsequent urinalyses have been OK, so I probably wasn't drinking enough water, INR may have been a little higher than normal, etc.

 

[Creed3]

Had Cysto

Had Cysto

Here is what I found out. The nurse at the Urologist's office was wonderful. She explained to me that many people have cysts all over their bodies. That a cyst on the liver is nothing to worry about. She told me that if it had been dense then there would be something to worry about. She even told me that the cyst can grow. I also mentioned to the urologist about the liver cyst and he said it is of no cosequence and went on to talk about something else. I also asked for a copy of the CT Scan and it says that the liver shows a 6x7mm water density lesion consisten with simple cyst. No other hepatic lesions are seen.

Conclusion
No nephroureterolithiasis or renal mass. 7mm simple hepatic cyst. Cholelithiasis (numerous small gallstones).

The urologist also told me that he didn't notice anything within the bladder that would cause any bleeding. Everything looked fine. He did say that part of the urethra has what they call cobblestoning which he said half the women have and that it is not cancerous. He said that it is possible that because of the cobblestoning that voiding could possibly cause bleeding if it irritated the area. He did a bladder flush and was sending that out for cytology to check for cancer cells. That will be back in about a week.

Well, that is what I found out today.

Take Care!
Gail

 

[Mary]

Gail,
The nurse's explanation sounds good.
I imagine that your cytology report will come back negative, and you will be able to have peace of mind.

 

[PJmomrunner]

I have also had a past CT report note small cysts in my left kidney and was told by a friend who's an ultrasound tech that lots of people have cysts all over the place in their bodies.

It is interesting that Cedars Sinai's website, in the section about BAVD ( http://www.csmc.edu/3893.html) under "The Aorta, Heart and Other Organs" notes:

Signs of degenerative disease may exist in other blood vessels and organs. Examples of this are subclavian or renal artery aneurysms, cysts in the kidneys and liver, hiatal hernias and effects on the eyes resulting in poor vision.

 

[Creed3]

Needing A Good Cry!

Needing A Good Cry!

I am going to try not to dwell too much on this but I just need to vent some of this. My mom, sister and husband all think I am having an OCD episode of over worrying. I haven't been like this since right before my surgery and before that it was while I was pregnant with my first daughter. She is seven now. I have a tendency not to always believe what the doctors are telling me or that they are missing something because of what they missed with my heart. It just seems like there has been a string of bad things happening and I am just dwelling on them all. Regarding myself, I am so worried about this liver cyst. One thing that I didn't mention earlier was that the other day I found what felt like a very tiny lump in my left breast. It is also close to my period and my breasts tend to be lumpy. I had a nurse and a gyn look at it and they both said that if felt like fibrocystic breast and probably wasn't anything. I had stopped worrying about it until I heard about the liver cyst. Now I am thinking that maybe I have breast cancer and that it has gone to my liver and is showing up as a cyst because it is an early metastasis to the liver. My sister told me that I have to remember that a cyst is just fluid and not a mass and that cancer tumors are masses not fluid filled cysts. I just have myself a mess because I think that maybe something is being missed just like it was missed initially with my heart. I keep saying that I keep getting bad news and my family keeps telling me that I am getting good news and that I am making it seem bad and searching for something to be wrong.
The other thing I am worried about is my three year old daughter. She is the one who was taken to the hospital about a week ago with a fever between 105 and 106 degrees. Well, she seemed to get better for about a week and now she is running a slight temp again. It was around 100. When I took her to the pediatrician he said she was fine and that they don't consider it a fever unless she hits 100.4. He said that she may get a fever again because she may have another bug and that they don't need to see her unless it gets to 103.5 or above. I am just so worried that there is something going on there that the docs are missing it. I'm thinking it may be something serious. The poor thing has been sick on and off since school started. She is only in preschool and today was her first day back since being sick around Thanksgiving.
I just keep waiting for the bomb to drop. I feel like everything is going wrong. Everyone keeps telling me that that is just because of the way I am looking at it and things aren't really that bad. I have just had a few good cries and I am sure I will have some more. I don't usually like to post this kind of stuff here but I just felt like I needed a shoulder or shoulders to cry on right now. I'm so sorry to have dumped all this here when it isn't heart related. Here is the heart related part......My CT Scan said that there was no abdominal anuerysms just minimal vascular plaque and calcification. I guess that happens as we age but I better start watching the way I eat and exercise.

Well, thanks for listening to me rant.

Take Care!
Gail

 

[PJmomrunner]

Gail, you poor thing! First off...any otherwise healthy young woman (under the age of...say 70) who survives an aortic dissection has license to at least wonder if a different set of rules apply in her case. If you have a new lump in your breast, go and get it checked out.

Something my echo tech friend also explained to me (when helping me to understand findings in my CT report) were Hounsfield units. They are a unit of measurement used to express the relative density of substances in the body like tumors and cysts. For instance, I have a "low density...mediastinal mass...of about 20 Hounsfield units." My friend said, "yeah, water." So, those who know such things can actually differentiate between known substances by measuring their density.

In the case of a newbie at preschool...it sounds like her body's doing a good job of fighting off all the new bugs she's being introduced to. My children's pediatrician when they were very young (not sure what constitutes very young--<5???) always said not to give Tylenol or whatever fever reducer unless the child is uncomfortable or the fever is 102 or over. The theory being that the child is developing his immune system by putting it to work. Give lots of fluids and popsicles. 100 was also her idea of a fever in a young child. I wish I had a dollar for every time my kids had a fever with no other symptoms!

Your fears sound pretty rational to me given what your experiences have been. Maybe after ten years have passed you'll have regained some sense of faith in normalcy. For now, I say you have license to question and then to question the answers.

 

[Sherrylynn41]

Hi Gail,

I'm Sherry and in reading your threads all I can say is you have been through the ringer sis! I was hoping in writting I could give you some comfort and maybe a little reassurance. I have been where you are. Doctors miss things on me because I don't follow the norm where testing is concerned. Because of my age the problems I have were overlooked many times. The best advice I could ever give you would be to know your body, inside and out, like the back of your hand and if you feel there is something amiss get it checked out, go to another doctor, read up on the problem, learn tests and the meaning of the results. I am dealing with a sick granddaughter right now, I know the fever routine down pat, however, if Abbi is running a temp and will not drink or eat, I get the fever down. It seems she has caught every bug this past year even though she stays home with me. She has the croup right now so sleep this week is completely out. I had to have my gall bladder removed 5 years ago, it didn't work anymore. I do know gall stones can be painful pesky beggars. You get a problem when they block the gall bladder and bile cannot get to where it needs to go. If that is the case you have pain in the back on the right side, neausa, especially after eating fatty or greasey food. A serious gall bladder attach will send you to the doc in a hurry, you'll know one immediately, you think your dying your in so much pain. I will keep you in my prayers Gail, and I hope you find the answers you are looking for. Take good care of yourself.

 

[Karlynn]

Gail, you poor thing! First off...any otherwise healthy young woman (under the age of...say 70) who survives an aortic dissection has license to at least wonder if a different set of rules apply in her case.

Ditto!

That was exactly my thought before I read PJ's response. I had young children while I was going through all my valve junk and I do think that it had a lasting impact on me. It was such a tough time that left me with so many feelings that anytime something comes up health wise I start to assume it's going to be bad because....I must have bad health luck.

If you feel you need to get the lump checked out - do it. Stressing over it without answers won't do you any good.

That being said - if you feel like you are not able to deal with all the issues lately in a healthy, constructive way, and the stress is beginning to be overwhelming, then maybe you should talk to your PCP about getting something to get you over the hump. This stuff can really pile up on you.

Best wishes.

 

[Guest]

I tell my wife that I can listen to a lot of complaining, just so it isn't about me!!

She says that I am only good for one round - that I want a solution by then. When she wants to "hash it over" she calls a friend. It is long distance but she points out that you could talk for a month for what a psychiatrist charges for an hour.

We all get those feelings of things piling up on us like there is this pimple on my face only it might not be a pimple it might be cancer and I could die from it and then my kids would grow up without me and they will probably rob a bank because I wasn't there to teach them right from wrong and then they will go to jail and probably try to break out and kill a guard and then get sentenced to the electric chair and when they pull the switch it will use up so much power that the nuclear generating plant will explode and the world will cease to exist.

I had a patient who did something like this. She lived in a remote mountain community. After her surgery they let her come to Pueblo for rehab. She got a small apartment but had no family here with her. During the night she kept thinking that she had a blood clot so she kept getting up and taking another warfarin "just in case". Her INR had been 3.0 when she left the Denver hospital on Monday. On Wednesday when I saw her it was greater than 8.0. She finally admitted that she had taken more than 10 X 5 mg warfarin tablets since leaving the Denver hospital. I assured her that she no longer needed to worry about clotting.

 

[Christina L]

Hi Gail -

Hi Gail -

I am thinking of you and praying for you. You are having a lot of things put on your plate right now. Our bodies are soooo complex. There can definitely be cysts on the liver and if your doctor suspected anything otherwise, he/she would do some more testing.

My gosh, Gail - we are so much alike - you, me, and Mark - we tend to focus in too much on the problem at hand, even when doctor after doctor is telling us we are fine. I know you had a bad experience with doctors before, but from what you are telling me, your CAT scan and cysto sound like they were both absolutely negative (except for the gallstones of course).

However, that said, if the lump in the breast does not go away, I would definitely demand to have it biopsied. I don't think a woman can be too careful about that sort of thing.

I don't know if you received my private E-mail last week after you were nice enough to call and see how I was doing (?). Anyway, if you want to talk, please call me tomorrow. I will be here all morning - not in the afternoon - but again in the evening. It is your turn to vent to me, after you were so kind to help me out several weeks ago.

I hope that God will give you strength for the day and will alleviate your fears and give you some peace. I hope your little girl gets better also.

Christina L

 

[Creed3]

Thanks Everyone!

Thanks Everyone!

You guys are all great. I feel a little better this morning. Last night I was so worn out from all the emotions and worrying.
The issue with the tiny lump in my breast is that I don't know if it has always been there. I just had my yearly gyn appt in July/Aug and everything was fine then. I was already in my worrying stage when I checked my breast the other night. I hadn't received my ct results yet or had the cysto. I don't check my breasts every month like I should. Maybe a couple times a year and very quickly in the shower. That is why I am not sure about the lump. I was told many years ago that my breasts are very lumpy. When the nurse and doctor checked it they both felt that it was fibrocystic breast. I am going to have the nurse check it again in December. My gyn said that if it is still there or changes etc...they will do a mammagrom. I had my husband feel it last night and he compared it to the rest of my breast and he said that it doesn't feel any different than any of the other lumps in my breasts. I'm hoping I'm just a lumpy person. My hubby and family can both usually tell when I get into these obcessed worrying modes. My hubby says it has been going on for almost a month. I think the blood in the urine episode is what set this all off. I just keep feeling like a huge bomb is going to drop. My family tells me to take the "good news" I was given and live a happy life but instead I am making it into "bad news" and thinking I am going to die or be seriously ill soon. I am feeling better this morning. I'm sure I'll continue to have my moments but hopefully I will be on an upswing soon.
My daughter's temp seems to be a little lower today. Last evening it went up slightly then back down again. This morning it was 99.
Thanks again for all of you kinds words. It really does help to get through this.

Take Care & God Bless!
Gail

 

[Nancy]

Gail-

I don't want to add to your worry however, please get your breast lump checked out and thoroughly, with a mammo, ultrasound or even MRI. Then you will have peace of mind. To do less than that will just contribute to further worrying. Getting these things checked out early on is the very best approach.

If you are feeling something, it is not unreasonable to want it totally diagnosed.

No doctor has x-ray vision to be able to tell you what a certain lump really is. The expertise of a radiologist is the way to go. They have the x-ray vision.

The vast majority of lumps are nothing anyway, but you want to keep yourself safe. Guessing is not a good thing.