Puzzle
My dad underwent PET/CT scan at Beacon Hospital. I was hoping that it would detect the primary site of the cancer to be somewhere where it's feasible to operate. However, it detected nothing abnormal or found unremarkable signs.
So at that point, we thought that either the scan was incorrect or the initial diagnosis was incorrect i.e. the cancel cells did not originate from somewhere else and so the kidney was indeed the primary site.
We then met the oncologist. Actually, he wasn't the oncologist that my dad was assigned to. I guess he was assisting the doctor in-charge? *shrug*
We answered all his questions and before he went off to consult the doctor in-charge, I asked whether it was a good idea to get a second opinion on the test of cancer cells in the removed kidney. I blundered in the way I asked hahaha ("maybe the pathologist made a mistake?") but he got it in the end and said he would include that in discussion.
However, after he came back, he merely recommended a 6-cycle palliative chemotherapy. Tumour marker blood tests would also be ordered to track progress. Their best guess of the primary site was the pancreas and that the cancerous cells were too small to be detected by PET/CT scan. What? Really? Goodness!
We asked him for a referral letter (to be collected only next day, unlike other doctors who wrote there and then) so that my dad could undergo the treatment in Penang.
Separately, my dad planned to get a second opinion from another oncologist. This oncologist, upon learning my dad's intention, advised him not to do "shopping".
So at that point, we thought that either the scan was incorrect or the initial diagnosis was incorrect i.e. the cancel cells did not originate from somewhere else and so the kidney was indeed the primary site.
We then met the oncologist. Actually, he wasn't the oncologist that my dad was assigned to. I guess he was assisting the doctor in-charge? *shrug*
We answered all his questions and before he went off to consult the doctor in-charge, I asked whether it was a good idea to get a second opinion on the test of cancer cells in the removed kidney. I blundered in the way I asked hahaha ("maybe the pathologist made a mistake?") but he got it in the end and said he would include that in discussion.
However, after he came back, he merely recommended a 6-cycle palliative chemotherapy. Tumour marker blood tests would also be ordered to track progress. Their best guess of the primary site was the pancreas and that the cancerous cells were too small to be detected by PET/CT scan. What? Really? Goodness!
We asked him for a referral letter (to be collected only next day, unlike other doctors who wrote there and then) so that my dad could undergo the treatment in Penang.
Separately, my dad planned to get a second opinion from another oncologist. This oncologist, upon learning my dad's intention, advised him not to do "shopping".
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Stay strong always!