CAT Scan and Ultrasound Results

5 p.m. Before my doctor's office closed shop for the weekend, they called me with the results of my CAT scans and Ultrasound done two days ago at Medina Hospital. Some good news and possibly something less than good.

1. No sign of a straying gallstone lodged somewhere in the area of the biliary tract and pancreas.
2. No nodule or other mass in the lung. (Guess the earlier x-ray picked up something left over from the almost-pneumonia.)
3. No problem with kidneys.

4. "Enlarged duct on my liver. Biliary ductal." No mention of cyrrhosis of the liver, so that's good I hope. All of these results help confirm my suspicions that Dr. B. was hasty in his supposition that my problem was cirrhosis, possibly hepatitis, and a roving gallstone blocking the tubes. No x-ray or scans were ordered. Now I feel that his sexist remark actually saved me from going ahead with the invasive procedures he scheduled for a few days later Instead I decided to go for a second opinion at the Cleveland Clinic.

My doctor's office staff member who called me with the scan results was unable to elucidate further on enlarged liver duct condition, but I'll check with my him on Monday. Not being versed in these particulars, I did some exploring online. I had no idea what a duct on my liver looks like, how many ducts there are, how large or small, or what is their function. Trouble with many patients is they're lazy and leave the doctors to fill them in. I avoided science in college as much as I could. But I think I got a definition of sorts: the biliary ductal is the tube through which bile is moved from liver to the small kidneys. The pancreas is involved too.

So far I've looked for definitions of enlarged duct or ductal, but what I've found is mention of blocked ducts. So, does an enlarged duct do blocking? Or, is a blocked duct an enlarged one? I browsed Johns Hopkins website and Wikipedia (it posted a number of other links). Unfortunately (for me) they are mostly concerned with cancer. Frequent mentions of abdominal pain and jaundice. But I don't have these. No pain and I'm not yellow. One article gives some clarity. . I haven't taken it all in yet, will read it over tomorrow. and probably post part of it.