Can shadows on the liver by anthying other than Cancer? Is it Treatable?

[Mystic_lady]

My brother (just turned 50) was rushed into hospital August time with what appeared to be very, very severe oedema which the hospital initially diagnosed was due to a congestive heart problem (he was severely overweight due to the oedema.  Following numerous tests, the hospital then dismissed this diagnosis and pushed him over to the renal unit, saying the fluid retention was due to kidney problems.  However, more tests ensued; the diagnosis dismissed resulting in him being transferred to the liver unit.  After weeks and weeks of them not being able to come up with any diagnosis, the hospital discharged him with an appointment to see a liver specialist at a leading hospital.

In between he visited his own GP to find that he was down as a renal patient, waiting a liver transplant, a diabetic (not been told!), given drugs and not being monitored and was in fact on a far too higher dose than was safe!

He returned to the hospital to arrange the promised transport to the other hospital 80 miles away and was turned away saying that he would have to make his own transport arrangements.  Due to his illness he is not working and had to drive himself, with doubly sized legs and feet due to swelling

Never the less he visited this leading consultant whereby files and files of blood samples taken, he was quite healthy, and that his liver would recover and told to go back in February and an appointment made for him.

However, as the swelling in his legs seemed to be up and down he went back to his own GP who decided he wanted a scan….  On the day of the scan, as he’d not been sleeping with worry, fell asleep during it, resulting in the radiographer saying they were not able to get a good scan due to him falling asleep!  

However…he received a letter this Thursday informing the results were back and an appointment given for him the following day, Friday.  The consultant gave him the news that they had found two small shadows on his liver they think can be tumours…..sorry salty flow of water and blurred vision interrupted me…..he was then introduced to a McMillan Nurse.…..so only conclusion drawn…… must be more than a thought????  

He was told that the consultant at the other leading hospital was the best to deal with this, that there are a number of options for treatment and these would be discussed with him at his next appointment, which is not until the middle of February!  In addition, when he asked the McMillan nurse about the possibility of him dying the response he received was “the same statistics as being hit by a bus if you stepped into the road!”

What does that mean?  

What are they saying?  

The sheer timescale of his appointment, does that mean that they are not unduly worried or the opposite in that it’s so far advanced that t is not worth hurrying?

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,
Please see my other post.
It seems from this description that the doctors seem to have a clear diagnosis but there are problems with disclosure.
Try to discuss specifics of the disease, what its called. From there you'll need to discuss what to do next, what options are available.
It is very hard to say what the scheduled appointment means (but if they found small shadows which may be tumors then this does not imply very advanced disease), the comment about the statistics of getting hit by a bus I'd interpret as a pragmatic reassurance that something bad happening because of disease or some random vehicular accident occurs with equal frequency (though it is vague and varies from neighborhood to neighborhood and offers very little if any comfort so all-in-all it doesn't answer the question). It may even be an attempt at humor.
Consider also the possibility that your brother may be in a state of denial. There are some patients who fail to listen well after a diagnosis is given due to a wall of denial that something so bad could not be happening. If this is what happened, then he is likely to mix-up things that were explained to him. It may be best, if someone is always there to accompany him during his visits to the clinic.