Had been complaining that hubby needed information to go forward with treatment. As usual what info we get from testing just adds more confusion -- info I would rather not know about.
During hubby's ER visit this week his abdominal CT scan showed what we expected plus something more.
"Nonspecific bowel gas pattern with mildly prominent fluid filled loops of small bowel centrally that are indeterminate. ILEUS or developing partial small bowel obstruction would be considered."
-- ER solution was to administer IV phenergran and IV pain meds and send hubby home. Fortunately this was a less severe problem than last time (10 days earlier) and he may have actually found a pain med that a doc can prescribe that seemed to help -- IV Dilaudid.
2nd -- "The patient does have a tiny hypodense hepatic mass in the lower right lobe of the liver measuring approx. 6mm that is nonspecific. This is too small to definitively characterize."
Unless someone here has experience with similar liver problems then I am going to take a wait and see approach. Hubby and I plan to ask our PCP to redo the CT scan in 6 months. That is what we did on his pulmonary nodules. If there is a change we might get a PET scan then. I just don't see any reason to get overly excited about this test result. All liver tests are normal except for very slightly elevated Bilirubin.
My brother recently said that in his opinion hubby's symptoms should be considered Lyme and tick-borne related unless proven otherwise. That is pretty much the theory we have been operating under for the last 5 1/2 years.
Bea Seibert
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
"As usual what info we get from testing just adds more confusion -- info I would rather not know about."
In Maryland they suck people dry of $2,000,000 for standard JUNK Lyme tests each year!
I agree. Tests often ONLY add confusion.. are often unrelaible or just plain stupid or bad.. and don't give us answers.. ONLY more questions.
Wish I could help you out on this.. but I just don't know.
I do know it makes me nuts having all these tests that don't show anything.. or if they do.. no one has a clue what they mean!!!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Hope hubby is doing better, and you too, bea.
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
bea,
we've had a new member join who takes/reads mris/cat scans!
perhaps this person can help you. if you go to melanie reber's post on health insurance; i gave her detailed instructions on how to find a specific person like you might wish to! good luck. Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
Bea
sorry you had to go threw this & hope both your hubby & you can be feelin better soon
I just googled hepatic mass & found many sites with patient reviews linking to infectious causes. One was a 19 year old recovering from mono for 6 months . Her 7 cm mass was surgically removed & found to be a benign cst.
another perosn see link below -had fever,nightsweat & had a small hepatic mass also found to be begin.
I think from so many sites & the fact that your hubby also has an infectous disease this may in some way have a correlation:
also go to www.pubmed.com & type in hepatic mass. I have the link -its a long one & can't get it to come up also explain about the benign hepatic mass's . http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
hope this helps
take good care Dana
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
just wanted to add my X father in law had a small mass found on his liver. we persuaded him to go up to maryland to John Hopkins because my aunt was doing cancer research at the time there.
he went threw major testing & such & it was found to be a bengn cyst. He was rather peeved at us for insisting he should find out was it was sometimes ya just can't win.
Posted by Jill E. (Member # 9121) on :
Hi Bea,
Like everyone else here, I send my prayers and empathy for what you are continuing to endure.
I recall when those full-body MRI scans came out, being advertised to people to go pay for their own heart, lung and other scans, some doctors were saying that people will end up seeing little things that are really nothing, but end up costing money to do further testing, along with added worry. So hopefully the hepatic mass is just some little cyst that would never have caused any problem, unfortunately it just happened to show up.
I do have a friend who is going through treatment (successfully!) for a rare form of rectal cancer. A few spots did show up on her liver. But the doctors could clearly determine these spots were cancer - there must be an obvious visual difference in some cases between malignant and benign cyst. Sounds like from the report so far, there is not an immediate concern.
If your hubby ever does have to go through a liver biopsy, I went through one, without sedation, and it was so much easier than I expected.
Please keep us posted, Jill
Posted by gopats (Member # 5218) on :
I have 2 of them and they've been there for 7 years. I have an ultrasound every six months to monitor the size. I had CT and MRI originally because the docs couldn't agree on what it was. They still don't. They say probable cyst or hemangioma. But they have stayed the same size.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Thanks guys. From what I have read also it seems highly likely to me that the hepatic mass is benign.
GoPats and Dana -- Encouraging to read firsthand about others who have similar problems with benign liver cysts.
At this point I am much more concerned about hubby's back and stomach pain. Just got back from the 2nd ER visit this week.
One ER visit in December, so far 3 in January plus 3 days in the hospital. This paralytic ileus problem is driving hubby crazy. Just trying to hang in until Monday. We have a flight to Pittsburgh to see a new neuro LLMD.
Will probably be offline until next Friday as I don't feel like hassling with the computer in the airport. It will be enough trouble getting thru security with meds and supplements.
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sometimes ya just can't win.