Finding out I have cancer

On December 8th I found out that a college friend of my passed away suddenly at the age of 52.  I start with that, because if it were not for that AWFUL news, I would have brushed off the intestinal pain I felt that night.   As it was, I just went to bed, assuming it was something bad I had eaten and it would go away in the morning.   Well I woke up and it had not gone away.  I went about my day and headed off to the driving range.  The intestinal pain had not gone away, but instead the acute pains were more frequent and I thought about heading right to the ER from the driving range, but I did not.  Later that evening I was still experiencing pains and as each attack came on I would loudly grunt or groan to express my pain.  This caused Deb to ask if she should take me to the E.R.    I told her YES.   Afraid of suffering the same fate as my friend drove me to not just "be a man" and brush it off, instead I said it needs to be checked out.

I was thinking it could be galbladder, or maybe just a blocked intestine.  In the ER they did a CAT scan and did not find anything wrong with the galbladder, so they ordered an ultrasound.   When they did the ultrasound they found a mass on my liver, but could not tell what it was.  To find that out, I would need an MRI.   The ER I was at did not have an MRI machine.  So I had to be taken to the Hospital the next morning by Ambulance.  By the time I got checked in to the hospital, it was too late to get the MRI, so I had to wait until the next day.    While waiting for the MRI an Oncologist came in and said that most likely they would still have to do a biopsy to determine what the mass truly was.   He thought I could do it Monday or Tuesday in his office.   When we went to schedule the biopsy, it turns out that our insurance would not cover that and I would have to schedule it to be done at the Hospital.  (The same hospital I left on Saturday, since they don't do biopsy on Sunday).   Well that was December 12th.  The Hospital could not schedule my biopsy until January 5th.  So I waited.

The biopsy was a very simple process and was done before I had even been there an hour.  I had to wait an additional hour to make sure I was not bleeding or having issues with the procdure sight.   So home I went HOPING that they were going to find out it was just a group of rogue blood vessels....

Well today I got the results and it was NOT rogue blood vessels.  It was

Adenocarcinoma, favor metastatic process.

Comment: Immunohistochemistry stain results are as follows: CK7, oscar cytokeratin, CDH1 7, and MUC5AC positive in tumor cells. CEA is positive in rare tumor cells. CK20, GATA3, CDX2, TTF1, Pax 8, arginase, CK 19, MUC 2, and CA19.9 or negative in tumor cells. Positive controls are adequate. A metastatic process is favored. Most likely origins are pancreas and upper gastrointestinal sources such as stomach. Clinical and radiographic correlation is advised.

What this means in English (At least as I know it) Is that the cancer cells they found on the liver were from somewhere in the Panceas or Stomach. That means they metasticed from somewhere else. That is STAGE 4 CANCER. Without knowing which, we are still in the diagnostic phase.

Thankfully one of our neighbors works with cancer patients in getting the to the right medical care faciltiy. She got on the phone with me and made the calls to get me connected to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. This is a top 25 cancer hospital in the country. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a call from them to find out which additional tests need to be performed to find out what they need to do to treat me.

Had it not been for the untimely passing of my friend, I would be sitting here today unaware of the sickness inside of me. I am very confused now as to how this has spread from one part of my body to another and I have had NO signs of anything. The pain that sent me to the ER lasted 36-48 hours and has only come back 1 time for maybe 5 seconds.