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← Return to Pathology report - bahhhhh :/
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Thanks Phil for encouraging words < 3.
This morning we asked for further explanation of the findings since I was confused with wording of some other things also.
We got in contact with their pathologist. According to her words there was focal EPE on one spot at posterior apex and cauterization tip passed very close to the true margin. Because that edge is burned so close to tumor extension there is inked edge present as it should be but above that cut tissue is also burned and they could not see extensions there and they were probably burned IF there were any microscopic extensions there . She said that just for technical reasons they had to write it in that way, but that they are almost sure that nothing is left behind but burned IF it even was there. Looking at it as it is now it looks like there are no extensions on the surface that are out of ink but they have to disclose "close call" so there is more vigilance in follow ups.
BUT from the other side since they found focal EPE it is considered a breach and than cancer is now staged T3 even though there is nothing in seminal vesicles, blather neck, adipose tissue etc etc.
Gleason- it seems that it was upgraded since IDC was definitely observed and confirmed, and there is a small note that I missed in my panicky state that says- "IDC feature INCLUDED in Gleason score." That would mean that it became 4+5 just because IDC was confirmed and as aggressive structure pushed Gleason up. I do not see how it is a "new" thing when original biopsy stated cribriform and IDC, but you know what , this is all nuts anyways , this whole PC production , as we know. Perhaps the Full Moon phase will change outlook and future findings 😤 and some Oracle will now better then them what is happening with sacrificial gland. 🧝♀️
Big cribriform NOT mentioned, so I guess that part stayed 4 as it was.
We are now asking for somatic testing since we wish now to do things ahead and not always somehow fall through medical cracks 😡. I am so angry I can not even tell you 😖
Anyhow - thanks Phil and everybody else 💗 for listening to my venting and rambling , I am on the verge of exploding and /or crying whatever happens first ... 😢
Replies to "Thanks Phil for encouraging words < 3. This morning we asked for further explanation of the..."
Yeah, I get it, believe me. I felt the same feelings of rage and disappointment when it was revealed to me - 4 YEARS after my surgery - that the surgeon’s notes indicated a ‘tiny’ break in the capsule…WTF??? A TINY BREAK!??
So as my PSA is slowly ticking UP, and I am asking the urologist for a referral to an RO to prepare myself for the inevitable, he’s been telling me to relax because my rise could be caused by this or that…all the while knowing about this ‘tiny’ breach…huh?
When I exploded he told me - “Hey, the margins were negative! You’re good! It’s the margins that are important”.
Well, obviously not, OK? Either the margins were not negative, they weren’t important or the pathologist was blind…
But I’m not telling you this to show incompetence, ineptitude or wishful thinking on the urologist’s part.
I tell it because none of it really matters in the long run. What will be will be…
We want CLARITY, we demand words like positive or negative; we crave phrases like ‘no suggestion of’ or ‘no uptake evident’…We become like the Cowardly Lion repeating the mantra ‘I DO believe in spooks, I DO believe…’ We want to fall back on some ‘undeniable’ fact or test result to put our worries to rest; but we can’t.
It’s all educated guesswork and being on this forum finally opened my eyes to that scary truth. You’ve been here long enough to hear all of it: a great patho report that checks off all the boxes, but a recurrence a few years later. A bad report and still no sign of recurrence decades later…can a sane person even begin to figure this out???
So let me just say in closing that the only real truth is: time will tell - time and PSA. Get all your genetic testing done to cover all your bases, but even then nothing is guaranteed; just another data point which can be argued by the experts until our eyes glaze over…
For me, the only thing that is certain is the uncertainty and like the Cowardly Lion I too mumble my mantra: “Who knows…who knows…who knows…”
Phil
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Phil
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Venting and rambling is what we're here for.