Once again on the merry go round.

Not even sure where to begin this post.
Surgery has been placed on pause.

What I am about to say is incredibly disquieting and exemplifies how difficult it is to navigate thru the health system even with all the advancements made.

Surgery was cancelled due to a suspicion of bone lesions which have shown up that may or may not be metastasis. But honestly was mostly cancelled due to advocating for myself that I need a definite yes or no answer to that doubt.

Backstory: Within the past month I’ve had 4 imaging scans.

Original Head/Chest CT: the 1st one that radiologist saw a glimpse of something in my thoracic area of the upper spine.

Bone Scan: Something I requested to ease my mind while we awaited for the inflammation to settle back down from Chemo/Radiation. This scan came CLEAN, no signs of bone mets.

MRI Abdomen/Pelvis: This scan was placed to give an all clear for surgery. Once again it marked “NEW osseous (bone) diffused metastase lesions in spine and pelvis” Specifically a 1.5cm lesion in pelvis.

That prompted my Mayo team to do last min rush order
PET/CT: a scan which came out clear of no active uptake in lesions, dismissing that it is cancerous.

So 4 scans: 2 saying concerning lesions, 2 saying nothing to worry about

Currently I have Mayo Radiologists team debating back and forth among themselves if this benign or not. The only real way is do a biopsy, but that is still to be discussed, if its possible or not. Either way I cannot keep spending time tinkering around waiting. So with that being said, as of next week I am back on systemic chemo for four more rounds, until we find definite clear answers to this.

I am dismayed that other patients would’ve maybe taken the route of PET/CT only and gone on to have surgery, unbeknownst with the possibility of future bone mets. If I ever second guessed the medical system before, this undoubtedly has reinforced that feeling. I am just grateful that my team at Mayo listened to my concerns when pushed.

I have no photos to share but I do have this one short story that I am holding dear to my heart right now.