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I Discover a Mass in my Face<br />
Friday, July 23, 2010<br />
<strong>My</strong> <strong>Battle</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>Merkel</strong> <strong>Cell</strong> Carcinoma<br />
About me. I am a 69 year old male diagnostic radiologist from Fresno. I have been in<br />
Fresno for almost 35 years, having left my radiology group a few years ago. I now work<br />
about half time as a pool physician at Kaiser. I am married 48 years. I have 3 sons, 4<br />
granddaughters and a grandson on the way.<br />
May 6 2010: I am visiting my mother in Montreal and I notice a lump in my face in front of<br />
my left ear. It is about 2 cm in diameter, firm, and mobile. It seemed to appear completely<br />
out of the blue, There is no pain. I can’t feel any lymph nodes in my neck. May 11 2010: I<br />
am back in Fresno and get an informal ultrasound of the area. The mass is superficial to<br />
the parotid gland and is solid and vascular. In the superficial lobe of the parotid is another<br />
similar appearing mass of about 1 cm. I call my friend Richard Weinberg, an ENT<br />
specialist in Fresno. He tells me to come right over and he will take a look at it. He<br />
examines me and says he doesn’t operate on the parotid, and has me seen by Dr<br />
Benjamin Teitelbaum. I have not heard of him before but Richard says he is the best for<br />
the parotid in Fresno. He examines me and sends me for a contrast enhanced CT scan<br />
of my neck. May 12 2010: I go for my CT scan. I review the images <strong>with</strong> Leyla Azmoun,<br />
the neuroradiologist at Sierra Imaging Associates.The scan shows the same findings as<br />
the ultrasound but there is a 1 cm lymph node in the neck. It is at the borderline between<br />
normal and suspicious.<br />
Posted by docshu at 11:23AM (-07:00)<br />
CT Scan Images<br />
Friday, July 23, 2010<br />
Posted by docshu at 11:40AM (-07:00)<br />
<strong>My</strong> <strong>Battle</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>Merkel</strong> <strong>Cell</strong> <strong>Cancer</strong><br />
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