Pat's story-tests and appointments, and more tests

So the oncologist sends Pat for a CT scan and then we went back a week later for results. I was fairly irritated during the week as I'm not very good at waiting. Walking back into that waiting room was a little easier since it was a friday and most of the doctors weren't in the office so it was pretty quiet. We were seen pretty quickly, and the doctor came in and told us that the spleen was quite large on the CT scan. They were able to compare it to a CT that Pat had in 2008 and his spleen had grown 4 cm in 2 years, and was considered twice the size of normal. He again discussed what the possible causes of this could be and again mentioned lymphoma. Since this was the worst case scenario, he wanted to try to rule it out first. So he ordered a PET scan.

A PET scan involves injection a radioactive sugar solution into the patient and then doing a scan (similar to a CT scan). Apparently cancer metabolizes sugar very quickly and so it will grab up the solution and be "lit up" on the scan. So if you have a PET scan you don't want any lit up spots. Keep in mind it's friday. He tells his nurse to schedule Pat's scan for "next week." The nurse comes in and tells us the scan will be on wednesday, to which the doctor says, "no. I want it Monday, call them back." And so it is scheduled for monday, and then we were to return to his office on tuesday for results. The doctor could easily tell that I was alarmed at his urgency. He gave me a forced laugh, and said "I mean why wait if we don't have to, right?" Rrriiight. Sure. I am well aware how scheduling works. We don't jump unless we really need to.

The weekend passes and Pat goes to his scan on monday. Tuesday comes and I fully think we are going to get some answers at the follow-up appointment. The doctor comes in and opens the report and tells us that Pat's spleen and some nearby lymph nodes were "lit up" on the PET scan. This was not what we were hoping for. The doctor seemed to have a different demeanor at this visit. He said the next step was to get a biopsy of the spleen, which would provide a definitive diagnosis. He told us he needed to step out for a second and call a surgeon for his opinion. And so we were left alone. My tears started and Pat started laughing. The doctor returned and told us that we would be seeing the surgeon next to decide if he was going to biopsy the spleen or remove it. He then asked if we had any questions. I couldn't help myself. I asked him to please be honest with me and tell me if he thought it was lymphoma. He kinda danced right around my direct question and said something about being 30% convinced. I apologized for being pushy, and he said "well, at least your pleasantly pushy." I have to admit I kinda liked that.