Another Tiny Bit of News

My mom went to the gynecologist yesterday. Remember that the urologist who did the biopsy felt that her cervix felt "strange" and hypothesized that the tumor had possibly spread from her cervix to the bladder?

Well, the gynecologist was so sure that her cervix wasn't cancerous today that he didn't even do a biopsy, just a Pap smear (her last was two years ago). He also did an endometrial biopsy. She had one of these two years ago as well. Both were normal.

But he apparently felt around all her organs in the reproductive tract and said that everything felt 100% normal and he was pretty darn confident that the cancer had not invaded.

My first reaction to this news was dismay, as in, "Oh crap, if it's not cervical cancer (which is generally so very treatable), what the hell is it? And where is it coming from?"

But my mom was very cheerful about the news, and seems to think that this means it's just in the bladder.

So I'm not sure anymore what to think.

The doctor also gave her a copy of the report from the pelvic CT scan, so my mom read me some of that over the phone last night. Here's the "impression,": diffuse infiltrative bladder mass with perivesicle tumor invasion, illiac and retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy."

I'm not sure what the "perivesicle" part means (an online dictionary says it means "near the urinary bladder") , but the rest, I think, means that the tumor has invaded the walls of the bladder, and that there are enlarged lymph nodes in some parts of the pelvic/abdominal cavity. Although two different doctors said they were not able to see any enlarged lymph nodes on the scan.

Again, I no longer no what to think. I guess my mom's optimism cheered me up, at least for the time being.

Her consult with the team of doctors at Mass General has been delayed until Monday as the pathology report is still not done. Apparently trying to figure out what these undifferentiated cells are, and where they are coming from, can take a while.