Good news!

So here is where we are:

I had the test last week. It was long and extremely uncomforable. However, it is over and we are moving forward! I met with the doctor yesterday, and here's what we have:

I have a focal nodular hyperplasia. This is a confusing way to say a benign liver tumor. These tumors don't do anything (other than get picked up on random tests for other things and cause lots of mental anguish) and are most often asymptomatic (don't cause any symptoms). You don't have to have them removed (yay!), and there is really no kind of treatment for them. Hey, as long as it doesn't bother me, I'm not going to bother it. They are switching up some of my medications, as something I take apparently has been linked to increasing the size of these things and, in very rare cases, causing a hemorrhage. Obviously, I do not wish to antagonize the thing, so I am going off of that medication.

They are going to re-scan me in 3 months (ugghh, of course the awful test is the one they have me repeating!) to see if going off of the medicine has helped it to shrink any. Either way, it is definitely a relief to know what this thing is and to know that it is not kind of immediate threat! So THANK YOU for all of your prayers, positive vibes, optimistic thoughts, etc. They all worked!

Since I am a sciency research nerd, I spent some time looking up information and research that has been done on these hyperplasias. Interestingly, I found that some very recently published studies have determined an association between pediatric/adolescent cancer survivors and these tumors. I don't think anyone has determined a linked cause between the two, but it could be that something about the genetics of pediatric cancer patients or the type of treatment they receive can increase risk of developing the hyperplasias. As stated before, these are not dangerous or anything, but having more information about the cause of these (like if there really is a link between having had cancer in youth and developing these), then we might be able to quell the anxieties of future adolescent cancer survivors by making physicians (and patients) aware that sometimes these things do come up in this population.

I hope that made sense, I'm trying to kind of wrap my head around how to phrase it. Anyway, the point being, that these hyperplasias could very well be yet another, and somewhat unknown, long-term side effect of pediatric cancer. As you may remember, this is kind of my scene, so I may just have some further researching to do on this subject and perhaps some position papers to start writing. Maybe I could save some other young cancer survivors the stress and anxiety of thinking they might have a malignant liver tumor... God certainly does work in mysterious ways, doesn't he?