Keisha

Thank you so much for your reply! They have yet to do any biopsies. Two appointments ago (June) they mentioned wanting to do a biopsy. Last week they did ultrasounds and used various machines to take photos of his eye. When they were doing the ultrasound, they were having a really difficult time to find the lesion since it flattened out so much. I’m not sure if that’s why they didn’t do anything. They didn’t mention what they wanted to do next time, although I’m going to assume it’s more of the same.

They didn’t really give my dad much instruction on what to do back home. Although when he was first talked to about these suspicions, he did have CT scans and all of that. Everything came back okay, but that was back in April.

I would’ve never thought of that. Really, really good tip! Thank you!

Thank you Celeste!

Your positive words have helped my spirits today! I really appreciate it. I will hopefully have an update with some substantial information.

Both of those links are so helpful! Thank you Ed, I really appreciate it. This points me in the right direction.

I haven’t gone to his previous appointments so I only have the information my dad is relaying me. He’s not the greatest at communicating clearly. From what I have gathered from his first appointment to get his eye looked at for the detached retina, his first doctor saw a black mass that he thought looked to be cancer. He told my dad to go to an ophthalmologist for a second opinion and surgery to fix his detached retina.

The ophthalmologist said he did look like cancer and had a second person look to back up his opinion. They said due to the potential mass they couldn’t fix his detached retina without making it worse and to go to a specialist in St. Louis for emergency surgery the following week (which would have been first week of June). About a week later the specialist in St. Louis looked at my dad’s eye (I’m not sure what all was done), but from there the doctor said it could be lung cancer (I’m not sure what led him to this conclusion) and to go back to our hometown and get bloodwork and a CT scan. My dad did that. He made no mention of the results of the bloodwork, but if something came back I’m sure he would’ve mentioned it. However on the CT scan they found a small mass or something in his lung. Just by looking at it, the doctor said it was likely benign but no actual biopsies have been done to his eye or the lung (currently).

My dad then goes back to St. Louis with this newfound information. The specialist said my dad’s vision seems to be getting better (because my dad kept relaying it’s not as bad as before. He still sees flashes of light and is light sensitive, as well as lots of floaters). The specialist said to come back in another two weeks to do the same testing as the last two times. I’m not sure what testing that is and then if his vision is still improving, he won’t do surgery.

This is all I know. I’m frustrated at how long this is taking just for them to assume it MAY be cancer. From my own research on symptoms and peoples’ experiences on how they discovered it themselves, it seems likely. I know this isn’t a lot of information, but this is all any of us have.

Admittedly, my dad isn’t an easy patient. He’s scared so he’s making things seem less dire, which I’m sure is complicating doctors’ ability to diagnose. Even so, I wish they would do more testing vs just the initial same. Now I have to be my dad’s advocate and work against him and talk with doctors that seem not too rushed to do more.

I’m just at a loss of what to do/ask, especially since I am supposed to be moving across the country with my fiancé in October and I’m the only one that can feasibly do any of this for my dad (only child here). I didn’t know if anyone else had similar experiences or etc. I guess I’m just trying to gain as much knowledge as I can before my dad’s third appointment with the specialist so I can be more of an asset and hopefully push things in a forward moving direction.

Because they’re alluding that he might and since I’m going to his next appointment, I’d like to know what things to ask since the local doctors are convinced he does whilst the specialist isn’t doing anything.

If I need to delete my post I will. Sorry I bothered all of you.

Not that I am aware!