r/cancer • u/TheEvilSatanist • 18d ago

Patient Just got diagnosed

This weekend was absolute chaos and clusterfuck. I went to the ER on Saturday for what I thought was a persistent stomach bug.

After a CAT scan of my stomach and a battery of tests this weekend, I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic cancer.

They did a biopsy Sunday, to see if they can determine where the cancer is coming from.

I also have another CAT scan coming up to see if it has expanded into my chest and lungs.

I really have no idea what I'm looking for, I'm still trying to process all this.

Also, I am a Satanist for a reason, so please save all the "just give it to God" or etc bc it's not something I personally believe in.

142 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/Kamelasa 18d ago

punch thingie

Do you mean needle biopsy? So, what do you want instead, open surgery? I was shocked that the so-important biopsy was just a punch thingie, as you said, which describes what I experienced, needle biopsy.

3

u/surfaholic15 18d ago

It looks like a little punch, literally. Takes a tiny cylindrical chunk. here is an explanation . That is the usual for oral cancer diagnosis.

What they did instead is the scalpel biopsy, which they clip out. Bigger chunk.

That was also what was needed for confirmation last time around, since the punch was inconclusive. Some types of oral squamous caners can be tough to differentiate it seems.

That said, this time it is far more aggressive also.

4

u/Kamelasa 18d ago

I see the difference. The needle biopsy had a similar mechanism, but it went a few inches into my liver. Fortunately, the rest of my liver is "unremarkable" - faint praise, but I'll take it.

I'm sorry to hear it is more aggressive this time.

6

u/surfaholic15 18d ago

Yeah, needle biopsy are really good for some cancers, punch for others, or scalpel. I will say the lidocaine shots actually hurt worse than the biopsy, but i dislike dental stuff for obvious reasons.

Unremarkable is my favorite word to see on my lab reports. We take what we can get....

This whole aggressive thing may prove very unpleasant.

5

u/Kamelasa 18d ago

The lidocaine shots hurt more for me, too. They even warned me about these shots and referred to dentistry. These hurt more than dentists' shots maybe because they were deeper, there were many more of them, and that area is already stressed by cancer. They did hurt and I gritted my teeth, but they did not hurt as much as the emotional pain of the neglect and mistreatment I've been getting so far. Yes, aggressive indeed sounds unpleasant. I wish you unremarkable things, except for a remarkable improvement.

3

u/surfaholic15 18d ago

My ENT is usually good with the needle, and he had me use numbing mouthwash first. But yeah, not fun.

I hope all of us get to unremarkable. Except for improvement.

Thankfully my docs have been great.