Doctors remove 20-pound tumor

Oregon Magazine/Wallowa County Chieftan ^ | December 1, 2002 | Rocky Wilson

[battlegearboat]

Boomer Sooner!

[Six Bells]

"My vet removed a 15 pound tumor from my 70 lb German Shorthaired Pointer about six months ago."

He can jump again!!

Hope he stays well.

[ASOC]

They call them "Life scans" up here. Pony up 2 kilobuks and they run you thru the machine (CAT) and have a real radiologist see if anything would require "additional" visits.
Call it what you will, but these folks are are ca$hing in.
It is real medicine BTW, just a funny way to market it I guess.

Hoo-ah

[stanz]

That all depends on various factors. A dear friend, age 36, was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor which was removed surgically. Her doctor told her that she probably had the tumor since childhood, but it only recently metastasized since the birth of her son a year earlier. Hormonal changes from the pregnancy spurred the growth of the tumor. Her doctor also told her that this type of tumor is hereditary.

[Howie]

For a fascinating, heart-breaking story about a young man with a brain tumor, do a Google search on the Texas Tower Massacre.

[tubebender]

Wait till my wife reads this in the morning...she and Dr Atkins are trying to kill me very slowly.

[lelio]

Why it just so happens that this months' Forbes magazine has an article on PET scans. $1200-3500 a scan and 550k (that's over half a million) of them are done a year! That means that this is a $1B+ industry.
If you have a spare $4M laying around you might be able to a scanner for yourself.

[CDHart]

"I'd be fascinated to know."

My grandmother had a brain tumor for years, they said, before it was discovered and ultimately killed her. I had a tumor in my left lung in 1998 and the doctor told me it had probably started about five years prior to that. He gave me less than a year to live, but thanks to God, good doctors and a special diet, I'm still here.

Carolyn

[jalisco555]

Common human malignant tumors- breast, lung, etc.- have doubling times measured in months. That is the time it takes for a tumor to double in size, e.g. grow from 1 cm. to 2 cm. It can take upwards of ten years for these cancers to grow from one malignant cell to a 1 cm. tumor. Not sure about glioblastoma multiforme, the highly malignant brain tumor being referred to. Probably faster. Also, brain tumors are special cases because they are in a confined space and invade extremely sensitive tissue (the brain). BTW, the fastest growing tumor is Burkitt's Lymphoma, which doubles in about 48 hours. It can kill unless you begin treatment immediately.

The article doesn't say exactly what tumor this man had but I'd guess liposarcoma (malignant tumor of fat). I'm a pathologist and I've seen enormous ones.

[AppyPappy]

That's the same thing that happened to my dad. He couldn't find his way home but no one in the office knew he was sick. It took about six months. Of course, they scheduled an MRI but the appointment was still a month away when he had the big seizure.

[NewHampshireDuo]

A very dear friend of my family's had an abdominal tumor that was around 10 pounds. When he had it removed, he named it Bob. He said it was the closest to having a baby he'd ever get

ROFL - your friend (bless his heart) has a wonderful sense of humor in what could be a grim situation for most of us.

[WaterDragon]

Very sorry about your dad, AppyPappy. My friend very soon became mostly unaware of the seriousness of his condition. It was so hard on his wife and children. And friends.

[scholar]

I'd guess liposarcoma (malignant tumor of fat).

Very interesting--I worked in cancer clinical trials and tumor registry for many years and never encountered one of those.

[Hildy]

My husband and I got a life scan a couple of years ago. Many Doctors do not like it, they say it scares people needlessly. I disagree. They saw something on my husband's kidney. We had it checked and it was just a water cyst. But I'm happy we did it.

[fatima]

My daughter had a 20 lb tumor removed while she was 4 months pregnant.It was the size of a watermelon and they had to take it out whole and move the baby back into position.The tumor was benign and the baby lived,I was in the delivery room when he was born and cut the cord.In our area there were only 2 doctors who had ever done this surgery on a pregnant mom.

[Paulus Invictus]

Minimum of $1,000 and up, mostly up. Hospitals love them as them bring in a lot of revenue.

[ASOC]

Good news then.

I guess my motto is - nobody will take care of you better than yourself. Docs are good people for the most part but are not gods.
Merry Christmas

Hoo-ah

[jalisco555]

Very interesting--I worked in cancer clinical trials and tumor registry for many years and never encountered one of those.

Luckily they're pretty rare. The really large ones are a real surgical challenge to remove. Unfortunately there is a high likelihood of recurrence. Still no effective chemotherapy and radiotherapy doesn't work well either.