howard
10-21-2017, 07:09 AM
So three weeks ago a CT scan revealed 4 masses in my lungs. One large one by my right shoulder (which was causing extreme pleural pain), one by the plural lining of my heart (more extreme pain), one by my throat, and another smaller one elsewhere. I've been on 60mg/day prednisone for 12 days now. I still have flare-ups that occur often, mainly roaming joint pain and nosebleeds, but the prednisone keeps them from completely disabling me and the chest pain in my shoulder has almost disappeared.
Many doctors wanted to biopsy the large shoulder mass but because of the location I had to have a needle biopsy, everything went really well and the hardest part was just getting over the psychological aspect. I did cough up a lot of blood but I felt very safe and recovered fairly quickly (I do feel very sore all over and tired today but I'm resting to avoid any complications).
Anyway, after I came to my senses from sedation the radiologist told me that when scouted my lungs that THREE OF THE MASSES DISAPPEARED! It will be a few days until I hear back from my pulmonologist to see if the large mass has shrunk or not but I feel extremely hopeful.
This is the absolute best news that I could have hoped for, I feel so relieved today. I haven't felt relaxed like this for months.
Next week I'm meeting with my rheumatologist and hopefully beginning remission treatment. GPA symptoms still pop up every day (nose bleeds, inner-ear pain, roaming joint pain, sweats) but the prednisone keeps them from getting extreme/disabling. It feels like the disease is like... banging on my gates and trying to find a chink in my armor is the best way I can describe it.
I'm not out of the water yet with the large mass, cancer still isn't ruled out, but yesterday was a huge moral victory. I just wanted to share the good news.
Love you all,
Howard
Many doctors wanted to biopsy the large shoulder mass but because of the location I had to have a needle biopsy, everything went really well and the hardest part was just getting over the psychological aspect. I did cough up a lot of blood but I felt very safe and recovered fairly quickly (I do feel very sore all over and tired today but I'm resting to avoid any complications).
Anyway, after I came to my senses from sedation the radiologist told me that when scouted my lungs that THREE OF THE MASSES DISAPPEARED! It will be a few days until I hear back from my pulmonologist to see if the large mass has shrunk or not but I feel extremely hopeful.
This is the absolute best news that I could have hoped for, I feel so relieved today. I haven't felt relaxed like this for months.
Next week I'm meeting with my rheumatologist and hopefully beginning remission treatment. GPA symptoms still pop up every day (nose bleeds, inner-ear pain, roaming joint pain, sweats) but the prednisone keeps them from getting extreme/disabling. It feels like the disease is like... banging on my gates and trying to find a chink in my armor is the best way I can describe it.
I'm not out of the water yet with the large mass, cancer still isn't ruled out, but yesterday was a huge moral victory. I just wanted to share the good news.
Love you all,
Howard