please help me understand my dads cancer results?
Posted , 4 users are following.
Ok so my dad went for a scan in the tunnel and they came back saying has cancer in his lung and liver.
He then went for these fine needles aspiritation in his neck to find out more.
They have said the tests have come back inconclussive and he needs to have a liver biopsy but they have told him he as malignant cancer.
This is where im confused because if they have not got the results off the needle asiration how do they know its malignant?
Please some body help me understand how they know this.
0 likes, 4 replies
jaw444 mothsgunav2
Posted
Are you able to ask these doctors your questions so that you will know more about what's going on? It's already terribly stressful that he is sick and they think he's seriously ill. To also have the stress of having unanswered questions can make the stress worse, and can increase the level of worrying. I like to know everything i can find out when something is wrong, and i have found that most doctors i've consulted with don't want to talk to me in any detail about my questions. While if there is bad news, that is worrisome i find that i worry a lot more if i don't know the answers to my questions. The more i know, the less anxious i feel. So if that's true for you, i hope you can have a talk with the doctors and ask how they know there's a malignancy, what was the evidence of that, what were they looking for when they did the aspiration of cells in his neck?, if they know it's malignant, why do they need a biopsy of the liver? What can that tell them? And any other questions you have, including asking them for an arrangement where, when other questions come up for you, you can call or come in and ask and get answers.
If they were the patient or the patient's family, they'd want to know these things and they would find out.
The only reason i can think of that they would want a liver biopsy is that it couild show whether the cancer is primary in the liver and spread to the lung, or if it's not primary in the liver and started out somewhere else. When cancer spreads from its original place, it's called metastasis, it metastacizes to different places. Metastatic cancer cells might be different from primary cancer cells. Both lung and liver are places where other cancers metastacize to, so a liver biopsy might clear up questions they have about that, and that might help them to know what treatment will be most helpful. I think that the most common primary cancer of the liver is called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). I am not sure about this, but i think that HCC would have a specific kind of cell, while other cancers of the liver would have other kinds of cells. Tell your dad's doctors that you want to be part of a team with them and want them to share the reasons why they do the procedures they are doing, and what might come next depending on what they find. I have not had the best luck in having doctors communicate with me, and i know they have their reasons, but it's been frustrating. i really appreciate the occasional doctors i find who do communicate and keep me in on their reasons and their thinking. Good luck to you and your dad, i know his doctors are wanting to find out what the best treatment will be, what will give the best results, prolong his life, maximize his quality of life, keep him comfortable, and keep his family reassured and supported. Maybe the medical center where he is being evaluated has social services and counseling for family members. That can be really helpful.
mothsgunav2 jaw444
Posted
I said to her today is it a fact that its malignant or is it a guess?
At the end of the converatation im still non the wiser.
I will have to continue to ask the question and hope for the best.
Thank you for the reply.
jaw444 mothsgunav2
Posted
satarupa mothsgunav2
Posted
i am not sure if what i said was right or not but i think thats what they meant. i understand how you feel. i was in the 5th standard when my father was diagnosed with cirhosis due to hypertension.