October 18: Meet with the doctor to review the CT scan. We looked at a 1.94 cm tumor located higher than usual up behind the Aorta and in front of the left kidney near the renal veins and arteries leading into the kidney.
New category based on this evidence: Stage 11A, pt2, NX. Still need to get the results of the upcoming blood tumor marker test in a few weeks to see if this other tumor is emitting Alfa-Fetoprotein levels. But the doctor is very concerned about doing a RPLND that high and feels that there may be undetectable cancer spread into the lungs. The RPLND will only remove lymph nodes outside of the lungs. But we are still strongly considering the RPLND. The doctor also tells us he’s leaving the practice and the state at the end of December and therefore didn’t want to be doing the RPLND. Our news for the day seemed to be going from bad to worse. We discussed traveling to the MD Anderson Cancer center in Houston for the surgery. But still needed the tumor marker for the next treatment step options.
