Core Biopsy, Let's See What We Are Working With? / March 30, 2017
On March 30th we go back to Orlando Health
hospital. The idea is to get a large
needle core biopsy on the inflamed lymph node so they can obtain a sample of
the cancer cells for testing. This
biopsy will not tell us the primary source, that ship has sailed, but it can
tell us the underlying cause of the cancer. Here is some more of that education
stuff.
Head and Neck squamous cell cancer comes from one of four
primary causes. The first two are
smoking and drinking. Since my days of
smoking were basically the latter part of 1979 when I graduated high school and
started the Air Force, which can be eliminated.
Drinking, well that is eliminated.
The third cause is exposure to certain chemicals over a long period of
time. I think I am safe here too. The last cause is from HPV, or Human
Papillomavirus. That’s right, a good ol’ STD.
It seems that when s male is exposed to HPV the body will
attack and kill the virus over a fairly short amount of time. The virus is then harmless. The problem is that the virus will mutate and
go into hiding in the body and is not detectable. Many decades later, this virus will re-appear
as a head and neck cancer. In females,
the virus will behave in the exact same way, only it comes back as cervical
cancer. This is similar to how chicken
pox will gives you hives when you get it.
After a short amount of time it clears up and all is good. Thirty years later that same chicken pox
virus shows itself as Shingles. Crazy
isn’t it.
Ok, back to the biopsy.
If they can get a piece of the cancer and it comes back positive for
HPV, there is a 90% cure rate. HPV is
the leading cause of Head and Neck cancer in men, but it responds the best to
treatment. If it is one of the other
causes, well now that cure rate drops to 70% at best.
I never thought this day would ever come but Kim and I got
on our knees and prayed that I have an STD.
I do have to say I am grateful to the doctor for clarifying to Kim that
it would have been contracted BEFORE we had met since it stays dormant for
several decades. Otherwise, it may not
have been the cancer that killed me, Lol.
The biopsy itself, piece of cake. The doctor used an ultrasound machine to find
the lymph node. He then numbed up my
neck and stuck three different needles into the lymph node and removed three
pieces of tissue. I just have to wait
for pathology to test it and see.
Comments
Post a Comment