four whirlwind weeks

Health, thou fragile thing.

My own health is fine, but that of my husband has been giving me fits...

Here's a calendar.



(Wed 2/11) he had an MRI at Lexington Diagnostic and Open MRI.

(Fri 2/13) he saw his cardiologist at Ohio Valley Heart, who said the MRI showed an abdominal aortal aneurism (known as "triple-A") that was large enough to warrant immediate surgery.

(Mon 2/16) he checked into St. Joseph Hospital and had the triple-A stented.

(Tue 2/17) he came home from the hospital.

(Fri 2/20) still feeling bad: no energy, sleeping all the time, short of breath, he made an appointment to see his cardiologist at Ohio Valley Heart.

(Wed 2/25) he saw his cardiologist, who ordered a CT scan at Meadowview Regional Hospital, which he had the same day. His cardiologist recommended a PETscan to further explore the findings of the CT scan, which showed "a mass" in his right lung.

(Fri 2/27) Blue Cross/Blue Shield refused approval of the PETscan, calling it "experimental" and "unnecessary."

(Sat 2/28) Blue Cross/Blue Shield called to say they'd reconsidered and approved the PETscan after all.

(Mon 3/2) Lexington Diagnostic and Open MRI phoned to let me know the PETscan was approved by my insurance company.

(Tue 3/3) he had the PETscan

(Wed 3/4) his cardiologist told us by phone that the PETscan shows the mass looks like cancer, and he (the cardiologist) would get in touch with the surgeon (at St. Joseph Hospital)to arrange for immediate removal.

(Thu 3/5) he checked into the hospital; due to the distance from home they put us up in the Campbell House Inn, catty corner across the street from St. Joseph.

(Fri 3/6) he had surgery and was moved into Recovery.

(Sat 3/7) he was moved into CTVU.

(Sun 3/8) he was moved to a private room on the 3rd floor.

Yesterday (Tue, 3/10) we came home from the hospital.

The surgeon, who coincidentally is the same surgeon who stented the AAA two weeks earlier and performed the heart bypass two years before that, said the spot was indeed cancer but it was very small and very early and he got it all out. Biopsy of lymph nodes showed the cancer had not spread at all, so neither chemotherapy nor radiation are necessary! Yea.

If BC/BS had not reconsidered, in another month this would probably have been in the lymph nodes. From there it's about impossible to get rid of it.