Nearly three weeks ago I lay on the MRI table, once again checking my brain. The reason? I had an eye exam and my double vision has gotten much worse since the last time i was in the eye doctor’s chair. So much that my optometrist won’t put that much prism in my glasses. The double vision results in some dizziness, a few headaches, and, of course, two of everything. Some things are good to double; others…one is enough. My last MRI was in February, and usually I go annually. But my oncologist wanted to double check it.
I don’t get super concerned, anxious, or panicky when I see something show up on the test results. I respond like the line from Bridges of Spies, “would it help?” Worrying doesn’t help, but I do think about it at times.
I get my test results within a few days, before I see the doctor, so I tend to Google everything I don’t understand (which is most of it 🙄). However, I know if there is a cause for concern, my oncologist will call me at some ungodly hour of the morning or night. The dude never sleeps, but he is on top of it. I knew I had an appointment with him today, so even though something new popped up on this one, I just decided to wait and see what he thought about the result.
After three years of reading, “No evidence for intracranial metastasis,” this is the first time I’ve seen “lesions” show up in my brain scan since the gamma knife zapped those little suckers, so naturally I had a few questions brewing. They were described as “punctate,” which means smaller than a millimeter. More specifically, “there are 2 punctate enhancing lesions in the right-sided cerebellum and cerebellar vermis,” with “suspicious for metastasis” and “further follow up” written into the impression and recommendation. They are in the same spots where I was treated for lesions with gamma knife in 2019.
Dr. K. is not overly-concerned. He’s going to do the right thing, and watch them closely, but we aren’t getting too worked up about it and over scanning my brain either. He’s going to send over the images to the radiation oncologist just to be sure, but he doesn’t think I will need to be scanned for a few months or so.
He explained it this way. The MRI takes slices of your brain, and those slices are about 3mm apart. The chances of them catching something as small as these are very slim. They could have been there all along. Regardless, it’s most likely they are showing the healing in my brain from the gamma knife. Or, they could be some residual metastasis. Apparently the gamma knife decreases the size, but doesn’t typically eliminate them entirely (that was news to me 😳). It’s possible the MRI just happened to slice the brain on them this time, and the radiologist decided to write about it.
He did order my regular bone and CT scans, so I can get those out of the way before our big summer road trip. Which is NINE DAYS away 🤩🤩. He didn’t seem bothered by us Airstreaming, going out of town, or missing a treatment. In fact, they are all very happy for us to travel and enjoy life. We can continue with our adventure as planned.
We will be back at the end of July, and I can get another MRI done then if needed. If they want it sooner, I will be home in June for my grandson’s first birthday. Of course I won’t miss that!
Tim went with me to this appointment. Typically I go by myself. Whenever he goes with me, Dr. K. is very chatty. Not so much about cancer, although that’s part of it, but we talk about world politics, society, how it is changing, the extremes and the middle-ground, and how we all have to learn to just live with it. But we are also looking forward to the day when we no longer have to live with it. *Sigh* 😔
I’m reminded of the song, “This world is not my home!” Aside, Dr. K. is a Christian, too. 🥰
We talked about the visit on the way home, rain pouring over our sunroof. I told Tim I was glad to hear what Dr. K. had to say about the MRI results, and the lesions (or whatever they are) in my brain. While I don’t get overly anxious about it, I said, it has been on my mind.
“Literally.” He replied.
We both had a good laugh.
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
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