The C Word

Good news today.  The biopsies from the stomach EGD came back as non-cancerous .   The G-I doctor prescribed 40mg Prilosec.   Not exactly sure why, but I will take it.    Thursday, I go for a 2 nd PET scan, and many people were asking what is different about this one.   So, I did some research and this is what I found.  While I am at Moffitt, I will be doing my pre-surgery blood work.   In addition, I will be doing my pre-screening with the anesthesiologist.   Since I have never had surgery before, they wanted to do it in person.   Thankfully they were able to get this done while I am already down there.

I had the EGD procedure done.  Luckily there is no prep work for this, other than not eating for 8 hours before.  I ate dinner last night, and did not have anything today before the 3:30 pm procedure.   The process was easy.  They had me turn onto my left side, they put a plastic mouth guard in and then gave me the night-night drugs.   I was out instantly.   They placed a tube into my esophagus and looked around.  They did find 1 spot of a 10-12 mm polypid tissue near pylorus. (Somewhere near where stomach and esophagus meet).  She said that it did not look cancerous, but she took a TON of biopsies of it.  The results of those should be within 2 weeks.   This is good news that there is nothing in this area.  So these tests are eliminating the places that cancer could have come from.   I have my colonoscopy set for March 6 th .

There are 2 colon tests they are requesting, to rule out this being colon cancer.  7 years ago TODAY, my mother passed away from Colon Cancer.  So there is a family history. The EGD* is scheduled for 3:30pm tomorrow, Wednesday Feb 15th. The colonoscopy is scheduled for 7:45am March 6 th .     EGD- Upper endoscopy, (esophagogastroduodenoscopy), is  used to examine the lining of the esophagus, stomach, and upper part of the small intestine (duodenum) I also received confirmation of March 20 th being the liver surgery date.   I need to be at Moffit at 5:15 am that day.   I think the actual surgery will probably start around 7 am. They have said this is a 7 hour surgery.   I am very happy that tests are getting scheduled, but it is also realy make things sink in, that SOON I will be having major surgery........

 We met with the surgeon today.  So much information, so I think I am going to just list out what we found out. 1)       The PET scan I just did, was with the wrong contrast agent.   Meaning we have to do another with a different contrast.   The one I did would have been correct if we were testing for Stomach or Pancreas cancer.   The correct contrast detects the bile duct cancer cells.   I have the new PET scheduled for Feb 23 rd at Moffitt. 2)       He would like to rule out this coming from the colon, so, I have to schedule a colonoscopy with an EGD.   This means that they look at my colon from BOTH ends.   This would be done during the same procedure.    I still need to schedule this. 3)       From the MRCP/MRI, it still looks like this is Bile Duct Cancer.    He did mention that this is a rare cancer, specifically where it is located.   ...

 Busy last week.   My friend Larry flew out here late Thursday night.  We spent Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday working on fixing my golf swing.  The running theme of the weekend was that I was a “stubborn as a barn full of old mules”.   I can never leave well enough alone.  I always want more.   So, I was trying to take on too many things.  By Sunday afternoon, Larry had finally drilled into my head that I need to set a new baseline swing and make MINOR adjustments from there.   I had a great last session where I hit 20 or so decent shots.  This is what I am going to work with for now.  Thanks to Larry for not slapping me, or throwing things at me.  It was a GREAT distraction from what I had going on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Monday was MRCP/MRI at 3 PM at Moffitt in Tampa.   This was done in an MRI machine, but I felt the test was a lot longer.   Thankfully I am not claustrophobic, since ...