[2023-01-26] Pelvic MRI results

As I shared on Friday, I went for an MRI last week as a follow-up to the radiation I underwent a year ago to deal with residual precancerous cells that remained after my surgery for perianal skin cancer.

Today, I got the results. They popped up in the MyChart app this afternoon. I held my breath as I opened them.

I'm not a healthcare specialist, but the results—for the many things they looked at—appear to be really good. The words "no important abnormality" came up again and again.
  • Ureters.
  • Bladder.
  • Vagina.
  • Adnexa.
  • Rectum.
  • Large and small bowel.
  • Peritoneum, retroperitoneum and mesentry.
  • Bones and body wall.
  • Arteries and veins.
No important abnormality.

I also have no enlargements in my pelvic lymph nodes.

The only part of my body that merited a few more words was my anal canal. If I understand well, the MRI identified scarring related to my surgery and radiation treatment. However, the key sentences appear to be these: "No mass, T2 intermediate signal or enhancement" and "No finding concerning for recurrence."

This appears to be good news regarding not only my perianal skin cancer but my ovarian cancer as well. Under "Uterus," the report states: "No abnormal soft tissue in the adnexa or along the vaginal wall." The adnexa—I conclude from a Google search—is the part of my body where my ovaries and fallopian tubes used to be, in other words, ground zero for my ovarian cancer.

I shared my MRI report with my niece, the nurse, who drew the same conclusions as I did. She wrote: "This is something to celebrate." She added: "When I think back to those early calls" (appointments with my oncologists when I was first diagnosed, which she joined by phone) "this is an outcome we could only hope and pray for." We talked about some of the things we had heard—scary possibilities about recurrence—and felt grateful that, to date, none of those potential outcomes had come to pass.

I don't know what the future holds—none of us do—but I do know that, today, the news is good. I can breathe. I can celebrate. And I can keep on thriving.