Unknown Lesion - 2018

The pre-op nurse, Christine, called me today with the specifics of what I need to do on the day of the bronchoscopy, February 2nd, 2018. Arrive no later than 8:15 AM Procedure will start promptly at 9:45 Bring a photo ID and my insurance card Nothing to eat or drink for eight hours prior to the procedure Yes, that includes water I can rinse my mouth out as much as I want No alcohol at all the day before Shower twice with anti-bacterial soap Thursday night Friday morning Procedure will take 60 - 90 minutes That seems like a long time for this Should be discharged about 1:00 PM Spouse should remain with me the rest of the day She went over some other general stuff, like my current list of meds.  Coincidentally, her husband Mark is a trainer at WE Energies. A week from now I should be home shaking the cobwebs out of my head.

Yesterday I got the call from Dr Mohammed Mohammed's nurse Debbie that my bronchoscopy is scheduled for next Friday, February 2, 2018 at 9:30AM. I need to be there at 8:00 and can't have anything to eat or drink, including water (really?) for eight hours before.  The procedure will take about 90 minutes, and I should be in recovery for 1.5 - 2 hours.  With luck we'll be home by 2:00PM. Of course, I won't be able to drive and Debbie said that ridesharing services or taxis are not allowed.  That's interesting. I will get a call from Aurora's pre-op people sometime next week to go over some additional details, such as "why can't I have water?".  She thinks that they will probably want me to take my blood pressure medicine, and it's ok that I continue on my daily aspirin. Debbie said she submitted everything to our health insurance and usually doesn't hear anything back on that.  I suppose that I should check that everything is covered,...

I spoke with Dr Al-Saghir's office yesterday and she wants me to go in for a Navigational Bronchoscopy. Navigational bronchoscopy  is a technology which combines electromagnetic  navigation  with real-time 3D CT images, enabling doctors to biopsy and treat masses in these distant regions of the lungs. Before undergoing a  navigational bronchoscopy  procedure, a CT scan is performed to locate potential tumors in the lung. I'm supposed to get a call "by the end of the week" to schedule it.  I was hoping that I could h\get in this Friday, but that seems unlikely now.  The pulmonologist who will do the procedure is Dr Muhammed Muhammed. at Aurora Health Care's Grafton hospital.  I like that he has a UW connection. I'm anxious to get this done.  It's like the sword of D amocles.

This is what is written in my medical record on the Aurora Health Care website: Study Result Impression IMPRESSION:  1. CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis showing no evidence of adenopathy. 2. A groundglass opacity in the right upper lobe appears to have some slow increase in size and density since March 2014 and a slow-growing malignancy such as an adenocarcinoma cannot be excluded. Further pulmonary medicine evaluation regarding this finding is recommended.

Friday, January 19, 2018 On December 22, 2017 I went in for what I thought was my annual CT scan.  I’ve done a lot of these and they are pretty easy.  Dr. Ko calls them my “low dose radiation treatment.”  On December 26 th I saw Dr. Bomzer for the follow up appointment.  I see him every six months. It hadn’t always been like that.  After my surgery on May 19, 2010 to remove the Bronchial Associated Lymphoid Tumor (BALT), I saw him every three months with CT scans each time.  Gradually they went to every four, then six.  When I asked if it would eventually be annual visits, he told me “No, we will see each other every six months forever.”  He’s a pretty conservative doctor, and my colon cancer in 1992 and our family history pretty much guaranteed close monitoring..  I’m ok with it. That surgery went fine.  They removed the tumor, analyzed it, determined that it was cancerous, removed the rest of that half lung, and that was that....