I'm glad to hear that things are looking better for your dad, Lindsey. I can understand why you still have questions.
I'm glad to hear that things are looking better for your dad, Lindsey. I can understand why you still have questions.
Anne, dx'ed April 2011
Thanks, Anne. As I am sure you know, it has been a roller coaster emotionally for all of us and physically for my Dad. Even though the radiologist said Dad's nodule is likely due to inflammation since it is now smaller, I am wondering if it could be a malignancy that shrunk due to the three doses of methotrexate he has taken. Then my next thought is, he has only taken three doses...and would methotrexate shrink a malignant tumor by half in just three weeks? Is my brain just trying to be irrational because we haven't received any good news up to this point?
I don't know about methotrexate, but I do know that time and prednisone do heal lung lesions. Mine are shrinking due to the time and pred. If given proper treatment for the Wegeners, lesions from wegs will heal over time. My original lesions and lungs that looked like broken glass (multiple granulomas), and all those healed where they are not showing up on x-rays and CT scans.
(Oh, and Phil, three doses, not three days.)
MikeG-2012
"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have"
Oh, so the mtx is being taken orally but only once a week? If that is the case then 3 weeks could bring the lesion down in size quite a bit.
Phil Berggren, dx 2003
That could very well be then Lindsey. How is your dad feeling overall this week? Any new symptoms?
Phil Berggren, dx 2003
He feels good. No new symptoms, just his sinuses running like a faucet. I made him take pictures of a couple different mucous balls his nose gave birth to and then text them to me. I then had Walgreens print them out and I gave them to my Dad yesterday. He is going to show his rheumatologist at his appointment tomorrow.
So would you imagine his pulmonologist still wanting him to have a lobectomy?
Does your dad do nasal rinses?
Ya, I can't see the lung doc wanting to take out part of his lung really. I would get a second opinion.
Phil Berggren, dx 2003
Before anyone did that to me again (I had a lung biopsy 2 years ago), I would get a second opinion, or see a Wegener's specialist somewhere. Your Dad's immune system is now compromised, and if he's been on pred for any length of time now, he is going to heal slower than normal. Plus, if the nodule is shrinking, because of the treatment plan that he is on for WEGENERS, then maybe, just maybe it is caused by the wegs and not a malignancy?
MikeG-2012
"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have"
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