Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!

In January ,2008 Denise noticed that my hackey cough had gotten worse. I have had a cough for years. All that smoking. I had given up the nasty habit several years earlier but years of sucking down all those toxins left me with a morning cough. Denise had been put on high blood pressure medication a few months earlier and had a a bad reaction to one called Lisinopril. She developed a nasty dry hackey cough and just felt lousy. Her Dr. took her off Linsinopril and she felt better soon after and her cough went away. She suggested that I see my Dr. because I have been on that medication for quite some time now and maybe I was having the same reaction. So I made a Dr. appointment.

That first visit in January resulted in me coming away with prescriptions of nasal sprays and inhalers thinking it was an allergy. To be on the safe side chest X-rays were taken and showed clear. That was not the problem however and a return visit was called for.

The next visit was a couple of months later in March and my Dr. decided to take me off Lisinopril and perscribed Cozzar as an alternative. Wow!!! I felt so much better almost immediately and my cough almost disappeared over night. What a major change. I didn't know I was feeling bad because it had crept up slowly over a long time and I never felt the change. I just thought age was creeping up on me some. I also noticed that I was catching every sniff and sniffle that the kids on my bus had . Just not as strong or tolerant as I used to be. I thought that is normal for working in a mobile bacteria factory like hauling kids around. Anyway my Dr. being thorough sent me for another chest x-ray.

This time the result of the x-ray was not the same. A phone call from Kaiser, my medical provider informed me that a spot showed up in my left lung on this last x-ray and that they wanted to schedule me for a cat scan as soon as possible. Oh boy, that's not good news!!

The cat scan early the next week confirmed the spot as being in my lower left lobe of my left lung near the spine. It had been hiding there for a long time now. The mass measure 24 x 28 mm. The news keep getting worse. A pet scan was the next order of diagnosis.

The pet scan was done a few days latter. I am now being rushed through diagnosis and I am grateful that they are moving quickly to find out what this thing is but it is scaring me because they wouldn't move that fast if they didn't think this was serious.

April 6Th, 2009.

Only six days shy of being two years to the day that I first meet Goliath with the result of that colonoscopy, scared, uncertain and worried both Denise and I put our best foot forward and bravely went to consult with Dr. Ashiku a Thoracic Surgeon no less to discuss the findings of the pet scan.

The images were crystal clear and there were lots of them ,from many different angles. The scan showed every thing from the testes to the chin. There was four very bright yellow, large glowing masses in every view. One in my lower left lung and three around the wind pipe in my chest above the lung.

Say hello to Goliath again!