Dream Week and indecipherable (to me) pathology report

[Philly13]

I spent the most wonderful week that I have experienced in years at the beach with my family. Daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, son, girlfriend, and wife together for a solid week. My expectations were high, and they were exceeded. It was special for so many reasons. We all live in the same city, but the pandemic had strained our ability to be together. My 2 and 1/4-year-old granddaughter has been isolated for half of her life.

Amgen 509 wanted a pathology tissue exam on a nodule that has been developing on my adrenal gland. The doctor who did the procedure extracted enough tissue for Jefferson to do a separate analysis from the nodule, as we won’t see the clinical trial results. I had the procedure on Friday and went to the beach on Saturday.

My numbers deteriorated markedly over the last several months, and I have been dealing with increasing pain in my lower back and neck. At the end of June, I had a CT scan that identified a growing nodule on my right adrenal gland. The report described it as follows; Abdomen/Pelvis w IV Contrast – Details Right adrenal nodule, 1.9 x 1.1 cm (series 10 image 128) previously 1.7 x 1.0 CM, 6/1/2021, and 10 x 10 mm on 12/1/2020.

The pathology report states the following: "Immunohistochemical stains were performed on sections A1 and A2. Inhibin A shows focally staining pattern supporting adrenal cortex origin. NKX3.1 (prostate origin marker), PAX8 (kidney and other origins), and HMB45 are negative. Clinical and imaging study correlation is recommended."

The oncologist is away this week but responded to an email saying that “The report shows that they did not hit the tumor……or no tumor in the samples.”

Huh???

I expect that the nodule is malignant, but I am puzzled that the sample wasn’t conclusive and provided no clues for treatment. I am surprised the nodule wasn’t 100% tumor, but I don’t understand how it works.

If anyone has any thoughts to share about the subject, they would be appreciated.

Returning home Sunday evening after a dream week, real-life returns. I began RT on Monday. It was decided to zap T12 after looking at all the images over the last month. I have had 3 fractions of 10, and it is hard to tell, but I think there is some relief happening. I will start to scale back the steroids and pain meds tomorrow and hope for the best.

Philly

[treedown]

Based on your docs response I would say to him, please explain. Hearing how great of a time you had with your family makes my day. Thanks a nd all the best to you and yours.

[Tall_Allen]

They got an adrenal nodule, not a prostate cancer metastasis.

[Philly13 in reply to Tall_Allen]

That seems like good news.

The Doc will be back next week and I will get a better explanation from him.

Thanks

[tango65]

There are benign adrenal nodules (tumors) which may require clinical and radiological follow up.

mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...

[Philly13 in reply to tango65]

Thanks for the link.

[tango65 in reply to Philly13]

Best of luck!!

[Hidden]

Which shore town? I have a place in Sea Isle City. The jersey shore towns have been mobbed but the weather has been very good.

The pathology report requires training to understand. That and there doesn't seem to be a acceptable format...some provide more details than others. Regardless, best of luck to you.

[Philly13 in reply to Hidden]

We were in Margate. The weather was close to perfect for the whole week.

Thanks for the good wishes.

[Magnus1964]

A week at the shore is a dream week. Throw in great weather and it's heaven.

Your report is confusing but what ever else, no prostate cancer cells found.

[HopingForTheBest1]

Glad to hear about your wonderful week. A lot of us do jump to conclusions when we try to interpret our own results. Your initial belief that the nodule is malignant is more than likely incorrect.