Health Updates

The tumor has been identified as chondroblastic osteosarcoma;  not one of the 3 we had expected from the initial report. It does create cartilage ("chondroblastic") which is why it was difficult to identify but it's actually a form of primary bone cancer ("osteosarcoma"). This is of course not the news we were hoping for, but we had some additional tests yesterday and determined that it is localized, i.e., has not metastasized or spread to other parts of the body! If those tests had not been clear, there would be very little chance of survival, so this was a HUGE relief. Dr. W, the surgeon covering for Dr. F during his vacation, explained that the cure rate for a localized osteosarcoma at my age is ~70-75%. It is generally somewhat lower chances for osteosarcoma in the hip bone, but he said mine is also smaller than most, so it may balance out to around the same odds. As he emphasized, the key being: the majority of cases are cured. (We will get throug...

Additional note post-operation Dr. F later said we know for sure that it is one of 3 diagnoses: Chrondroblastoma (the initial hunch; a rare but benign bone tumor) Chondromyxoid fibroma (also benign but extremely rare: <1% of bone tumors) Chondrosarcoma (a malignant, primary bone tumor, which is rare at my age;  of  malignant bone tumors, though, it is the 2nd most common) He declined to give any percentages of likelihood between the three. So, overall quite disappointing but could be worse. We're expecting the final pathology report sometime during the week after next- and a follow-up operation may be as soon as 3 weeks from now. In the meantime, thank you so much to everyone for your support!! We're hanging in there :)

Initial report as biopsy was being finalized (courtesy of Francis) Open biopsy surgery went well, but the immediate pathology wasn't sufficient to confirm a diagnosis. The doctor still thinks the tumor is likely benign, but was not sure exactly which benign tumor, so the team was unable to procede. Unfortunately they declined to 100% rule out malignant tumors. So at this point we're sort of in the same spot as we just were. Immediate results are neither good nor bad, just frustrating. Now we wait 1-2 weeks for the complete pathology report, which hopefully confirms it's benign so another surgery can take it out. A slight silver lining is that most of the mass of the tumor was removed, so a subsequent surgery will not be as significant.

Still on the search... Unfortunately, there was not enough tissue in the biopsy sample to make a definitive diagnosis. This happens with around 20% of needle biopsies and means we will have to do an open biopsy for further investigation - scheduled: Monday, July 17th. Open biopsies are a more involved procedure but still routine: Dr. F and his residency orthopedic team do about 4 per week.   If the tumor is benign (this will be established on site during the biopsy), they will go forward with the operation: scraping out the tumor and, if necessary, doing a bone graft. If successful, this would likely be the end of treatment!! It would probably mean just 4-6 weeks on crutches and then follow-up tests to be safe- so yes, a wonderful and not too unlikely scenario. If the tumor is malignant, they will end the operation after the biopsy and next steps will be determined based on the tumor type. What we do know In the meantime, Dr. F's best guess is still chondroblastoma (wh...