This evening, we went to Thich Nhat Hanh‘s lecture at the Berkeley Community Theater along with 3500 people attending the lecture. It was fortunate that I planned to attend this lecture because not all of the news I got today was good.
Dr. Gullion had the results of the cystoscopy and the needle biopsy earlier in the day. While Dr. Neuwirth saw no visible signs of cancer, the wash of my bladder revealed atypia cells and other carcinoma cells, which could indicate that there is some microscopic cancer in my bladder. However, Dr. Halberg and Dr. Huang both assured me that these cells could be a result of the radiation. As a result, I have to go in for a biopsy under anesthesia on October 3 to have my bladder checked out.
The results of the needle biopsy of my left thigh were inconclusive. The preliminary indication is that I have a schwannoma, which has to be surgically removed in order to accurately identify it. This means another set of doctors at UCSF, and perhaps a three night stay in the hospital there. I have to be able to walk on my leg before they’ll let me out of the hospital.
I had an opportunity to talk all of this over with Leslie Davenport after seeing Dr. Gullilon. She was very helpful, but I had already seen that although these procedures are complicated and time consuming, neither one of them are extremely dangerous.