I have a bit of guilt for some reason. My treatment has been miraculous. For some reason God wanted me spared. I am sharing this in the hopes that I can give others hopes in what they are facing. Below are two PET/CT scans. One was from December 2017. After that scan, many of my tumors began growing 2cm per two weeks. It just started going crazy. I was given The nivo/opdivo pair for 4 treatments. I was able to take all four. Since then I've been on opdivo every two weeks. I am almost clear although they will keep me on opdivo for one more year. My doctor said that when he saw me that he didn't have hope for me because it is common that cancer gets to a certain point and then there is just no time for the treatments to work. By the grace of God my tumors didn't grow where it would have killed me faster. My lung tumor got to a size of 12 cm. It is now 2.7(or near there). First is the Dec. 2017 Scan, Next is the Nov. 17 2018 scan.
Please fight and don't give up and keep trying. And thank you for this board. It wasn't until I cam here that I found others with stage 4.
Dec. 2017 —————————- Last Year
CT Chest:
Lungs: Interval enlargement of the right lower lobe mass, measuring 6.1 x 7.1 x 8.2 cm, previously 6.9 x 7.4 cm. The mass abutting the left diaphragm.
Increased left basilar atelectasis.
Additional 8 mm nodule in the right lower lobe.
Airway: Patent
Pleura: No pleural effusion or pneumothorax.
Thoracic aorta and great vessels: No dissection or aneurysm.
Pulmonary arteries: Nonenlarged. No central pulmonary embolus.
Heart and pericardium: There are several enlarged pericardial lymph node masses.
Lymph nodes: Enlarged mass in the right infrahilar region.
Chest wall: There is a 3.5 cm mass in the anterior left chest wall.
Thoracic spine: No definite fracture.
CT Abdomen:
Liver: Multiple low-attenuation lesion in the liver, likely cysts. There is an enlarging 0.9 cm mass in the anterior peritoneum adjacent to the liver capsule.
Spleen: Unremarkable.
Pancreas: Enlarging mass in the head of the pancreas.
Gallbladder: CBD stent in place. There is gas in the gallbladder. There is pneumobilia.
Adrenal glands: Enlarging mass in the left adrenal gland. New mass in the right adrenal gland.
Kidneys: Multiple enlarging masses in the bilateral perinephric fat and along the bilateral Gerota fascia.
Several peritoneal/ mesenteric masses are also seen. The largest one is in the anterior lower abdomen measuring up to 3.1 cm
The abdominal aorta is normal in caliber.
There is a left retroperitoneal mass adjacent to the left iliacus muscle.
Postsurgical change in the sigmoid colon. There are multiple sigmoid diverticula.
November 2018 — Last month —————————————
FINDINGS:
Head and Neck: There is no abnormal FDG uptake. There is physiologic uptake in the oropharynx.
Thorax: There is uptake with maximum SUV 4.28 (previously 3.5) within the 2.7 x 2.7 cm left lower lobe lung mass (previously 3.1 x 3.4 cm).
Abdomen/Pelvis: There is a 10 mm left adrenal gland nodule with some internal density which could be calcification. Maximum SUV is 2.76 which is similar to background liver activity at 2.7.
Musculoskeletal: There is no abnormal FDG uptake.
Additional CT findings: There are surgical clips in the left neck. There are a few lymph nodes in the left side of the neck which do not demonstrate increased uptake. These are unchanged in size. The bile duct stent is again seen with associated
pneumobilia. There is postoperative change in the distal colon.
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