It's Me: CURRENT PLAN OF ACTION, CT RESULTS & ?'S

So I am getting good ?’s and I thought I would try to answer them all in one shot. The following is the CT resutls, the Drs. current plan of action followed by other ?’s I’ve received.

CT SCAN RESULTS

INDICATIONS: (reason for CT Scan)
Orbital swelling, w/out response to antiobiotics. (the Dr. said later it may have been an infection, causing a blocked tear duct, causing inflammation)

FINDINGS:
The left orbital swelling (which went away day 1 of meds) and left orbital mass (which looks like it is cupping my eyeball) is secondary to what appears to be diffuse enlargement and infiltration of the left lacrimal gland.

The left lacrimal gland is approximately 2-4 times the size of the right lacrimal gland. (this is not the inflamation that was visible on the outside, but internally seen on the scan as white) There is no inflitration of the intra-or extraconal space.

CONCLUSION:
Diffuse englargement and infiltration of the left lacrimal gland. The etiology (cause) is not clear although diagnostic considerations include benign or malignant tumor, or infiltrative pathology such as lymphoma or sarcoid. Sharons additions: OR IT COULD BE A BIG BOOGIE

DRS PLAN OF ACTION:

Started Prednisone 60 mg 02/17/12 which immediately began to reduce then eliminate swelling (all the antibiotics had no previous effect). Was at this dose two weeks.
Taper off 10 mg per week. Currently at 40, decreasing every Saturday
Will have another appointment when I am at 20 mg

Dr will determine if:

another CT is in order OR
treatment determined on results
Biopsy – taken by entering in through the middle of the eyelid (oh fun)
MRI is in order ORMRI is in order OR
continue meds OR
???

TREATMENTS: (all depends on results of course)

Surgery
Benign Tumor - depends on how much it has made its way around the eye. The Dr. has indicated that it may be too wrapped around the eye to remove without permanent damage to the eye.
Malignant Tumor – localized radiation, surgery dependent on above
Lymphoma – well….that will be a whole new something

MY PLAN OF ACTION:

Prayer over my mind that I not loose it during this process
Chronicle the journey
Stay Focused on His words, promises and visions
God can & may heal me w/out any further medical intervention I won’t need another dern appointment or drop of meds ever

OTHER ?'S

Has he given any indication what he THINKS it is?
After E.R. Doc, P.A. and Opthomologist misdiagnosed inflammation around the eye as pink eye and then a staph infection, my boss told me to call his opthomologist/surgeon Dr. NC about 2 hours away in SD (where lots of people end up for care because where I live we don’t have the resources).
SO Dr. NC looked at me, looked at the chart and kept shaking his head like he was mad at me lol! I kept thinking he was being a bit irritated and maybe even arrogant but after reflection I realized he wanted to know what was going on and was probably coming up with a plan of action only to see it had already been tried. I remember him telling me that he wanted me to get a couple of tests in his office, then a CT scan. He said something to this effect “after looking at the CT scan I may have you see Dr. RE ( a NeuroOpthomologist)
I was not sure at that point why or what he thought that was and gave absolutely no indication that he thought there was a mass. Later that evening he called me and told me he did have Dr. RE look at the CT and that I was being referred to him. Dr. NC prescribed the steroids which I began the next day and began to decrease the inflammation within hours. I thought YAY it was all gonna be done soon. I had no idea Dr. RE was going to later be talking about possible cancer.

In my mind, I think Dr. NC had a hunch which is why he even mentioned Dr. RE in the first place.

Coincidently – the two of them wrote a book together.

How am I feeling?
I feel completely healthy! I have no more lingering cough, I have no post nasal drip!

Does it hurt?
I have absolutely no pain. Apparently that is not what Dr. RE wanted to hear. He asked if I had pain I said no just some discomfort because…well wouldn’t it be uncomfortable to have something pressing on your eyeball? But NO pain. So when he asked, I was really happy to tell him No pain YAY! He would tell me before the visit was over, that he thought it could just be an infection but it is not acting like an infection because well the antibiotics had no effect, but if it were an infection there would be pain associated. DARN! I ALMOST….ALMOST started praying for pain. One day I actually woke up and had a head ache…..but a head ache is not pain in the eye, and it passed. DARN…..so maybe this boogies is not an infection.

BACKGROUND ON HOW ALL THIS EVEN STARTED

Early Dec. I started off with what everyone seemed to be getting. Colds, flu, yucky winter stuff. I have had chronic bronchitis since I can remember so it was not that big of a surprise to be ill. The only thing is I never seemed to really get FULLY better. I missed several days of work in Dec. Then Jan comes around and I’m not over the cough and constantly with infection coming out of my sinus area and cough. Each day in Jan I seemed to get worse and as I began to try to get into the Drs, they played the whole we have an appointment in 3 weeks thing which is always frustrating. I don’t go to the Dr. often, especially because I never have anything NEW. It’s always the bronchitis. ALWAYS. For years and years and decades, and all they do is give me antibiotics and say rest. So I would say 8/10 times I don’t go to the Dr. and just ride it out. This time was def. different so this is the path :

Monday ended up going t the E.R. was told Bronchitis, throat infection, sinus infection and …pink eye. I didn’t even know there was an issue w/my eye. I have never had pink eye. I just said o.k. sure and got the meds. 5 day Z pack antibiotics, by Thursday I was feeling amazing! NO cough and little infection!
Next day, regular Dr. follow up. Nothing done, just follow meds
A few days later….hmm this pink eye…..eye began swelling
A few more days….eye is shut when I wake up
Go see regular Dr (a P.A. actually) who switches the pink eye meds
The next day, eye is getting worse. I make appt to go see an Opthomologist locally
Opthomologist – no that’s not pink eye it’s a staph infections. New meds
A couple of days later….it’s getting worse. Change meds.
Days later…worse and they just keep changing meds. At this point I had already found out that a staph infection should warrant a blood test, but nothing was ordered
FINALLY, my boss said GO SEE MY GUY (DR C) IN SAN DIEGO!!
I saw Dr. CN Friday, started meds on Sat and WITHIN HOURS…my eye was better!!!