Question about necrotic tissue...

[DAWN82]

thank you all for your prayers! and thoughts! and friendship through this hard time! It really helped me through this 1st surgery

But, i have a question about necrotic tissue.....
after Brian's surgery, we met with Dr. Jarnigan, and he was explaining the surgery. the reason why they didnt take as much as they were going to, was because when they pulled out the tumors (4 of them) they send them off to pathology for preliminary testing, and those tests showed that the tumors were necrotic, and the surgeon told us that.

here is my issue, i am worried that even though he said they were necrotic, that they will do more testing and find that there was still bits of cancer in them i know this is bad thinking. but i just want everything to stay this good!.... i am hoping that he wouldnt say they were necrotic, unless he reallty new they were? maybe he was also able to tell by what they looked like? i am wondering if preliminary is not REALLY as accurate as the final tests?

Dawn

[Fed]

Dawn,

My guess is that they did a frozen section during the surgery and deemed the tumors were toast. A frozen section is never fully accurate because there are many tests you cannot do on them, so that's why all tumor masses are then sent for mounting as paraffin sections. You do have reason to be optimistic .

[Russell's Mom]

Oh the waiting.........it was explained to us that the pathology is done during the surgery and after. During determines what needs to be completed during the surgical procedure and after is like a flea comb....looking for any microscopic cancer cells that might indicate active disease. Necrotic is the best of both. I still struggle with the confusion that I have. I heard the words "no cancer found" after Russell's surgery. There is an amazing feeling of gratitude, but that feeling never really gets to just fly. It is always tethered with "more tests to be done" possible re-occurances etc, etc. Finally I settle my thoughts, at least in a moment, that no one actually gets to know that their life will be lived without concerns. Everybody gets something to work on. It is curious to me why God landed me in this race, but here I am!!!! Wish I had a word that I could land on for you...just know we are all together in this! Sharon

[DAWN82]

Oh the waiting.........it was explained to us that the pathology is done during the surgery and after. During determines what needs to be completed during the surgical procedure and after is like a flea comb....looking for any microscopic cancer cells that might indicate active disease. Necrotic is the best of both. I still struggle with the confusion that I have. I heard the words "no cancer found" after Russell's surgery. There is an amazing feeling of gratitude, but that feeling never really gets to just fly. It is always tethered with "more tests to be done" possible re-occurances etc, etc. Finally I settle my thoughts, at least in a moment, that no one actually gets to know that their life will be lived without concerns. Everybody gets something to work on. It is curious to me why God landed me in this race, but here I am!!!! Wish I had a word that I could land on for you...just know we are all together in this! Sharon

Sharon, i am a bit confused on what you are saying here? should i be worried about this not being necrotic?

[dadmo]

Dawn:
I wouldn't be concerned. As with anything involving cancer you won't have the full answer until all the lab work is done. The waiting just dosen't get easier.

[DAWN82]

Dawn:
I wouldn't be concerned. As with anything involving cancer you won't have the full answer until all the lab work is done. The waiting just dosen't get easier.

i agreee! but i just dont understand why he would tell us that things went great and that what they pulled out was necrotic, and he told us the same thing again yesterday

[Russell's Mom]

Necrotic tissue is the old tissue, dead and useless. When you get a bad cough the uck that you cough out is partly the old tissue that was irritated and now damaged. Coughing is our way of getting it out. Some tissue injury clears itself, other leaves a residual. In the case of TC it is best to have a surgeon remove the residual . Because there is a risk that a tiny bit of cancer might be left in one of the areas, they look super hard to find it. Of course, hopefully none will be found. But...they do want to know if it is there so it can be treated if found. Keep asking if you are still wondering...you will be more relaxed when the answers are there. take care, Sharon

[Fed]

Necrotic tissue is the old tissue, dead and useless. When you get a bad cough the uck that you cough out is partly the old tissue that was irritated and now damaged. Coughing is our way of getting it out. Some tissue injury clears itself, other leaves a residual. In the case of TC it is best to have a surgeon remove the residual . Because there is a risk that a tiny bit of cancer might be left in one of the areas, they look super hard to find it. Of course, hopefully none will be found. But...they do want to know if it is there so it can be treated if found. Keep asking if you are still wondering...you will be more relaxed when the answers are there. take care, Sharon

Not that Sharon needs a concurrence, but she's absolutely right. It's like I said earlier: a frozen section offers you a good preview, but a paraffin section will give you the whole picture. Frozen sections are great. I cannot say with certainty what their accuracy is, but if I were to ballpark it (and take this with a grain of salt, since I'm nowhere near being a pathologist), I'd say it is about 90-95% accurate.