One Year Ago Today This Nightmare Began

3/19/2010

One year ago today, Ed drove himself to the ER at SouthWest due to the blinding pain in his middle back. The pain was so intense he couldn't even see straight. And so the nightmare began. Three day's in the hospital on a clear liquid diet so the pancreas could calm down - he was diagnosed with acute (well, not so cute really) pancreatitis. He was miserable, but, hope was presented as the physicians insisted that the small mass on his pancreas was "most probably" a cyst, not a tumor. Yeah, go ahead and make the Arnold jokes, "it's not a tumor"... But in fact it was, and it was a mean one.

3/19 - Ed is admitted to SW for 3 days with acute pancreatitis. Gastroenterologist (GI) asks Ed on Sat. 3/20 what Ed's personal internist thought about the mass on his pancreas? Back in Aug. of 2009, Ed had passed a Kidney Stone and the mass was identified on the scan? Um, Ed and I just kinda looked at each other and were like "What The........." His internist never disclosed that information to Ed. So, what could have been caught in a much, much earlier stage of cancer was not. I truly hold that man responsible for giving Ed his poor outcome by not telling him about the "mass". His reponse to Ed when Ed called him from the hospital, He didn't think it was anything to worry about. I AM HERE TO TELL YOU - ANYTHING ON YOUR PANCREAS IS SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT! If you have a doctor tell you this, get another doctor - go to a GI guy or specialist, but fight for yourself, be your own advocate!

3/30 - Ed has an ERCP (scope down his throat to look at the tumor (oh, my bad, they still were insisting it was a cyst)... No biopsy done, just watching it for now. Surgeon looks at results, does not like what he sees and tells Ed surgery is not an option yet.

4/27 - Yes, an entire month later, ERCP #2 - this time they take fluid out of the tumor, report comes back with high levels of pre-cancerous cells in the fluid. This is really bad news.

5/14 - 2 weeks later, ERCP #3 - solid material is removed from the tumor, they test it right then and there, they do it I believe three times to be sure - I am the last person in the Lakewood Hospital atrium and it is scary as crap. Dr. comes out to tell me Ed's tumor cell marker (CA19-9) is the highest he has seen at 25,548. He has stage III pancreatic cancer that is border-line resectable (cannot have surgery) because it is attached to his 3 main arteries/veins (portal vein, superior mesenteric and celiac trunk).

On June 3, 2010 Ed started his chemo - And, since then, you guys know the rest of the story.

So, we bowl tonight for the last time this winter, which means spring is here - well, we can hope anyway!

Peace Ed & MK
PS - I don't have spell check anymore on my blog? So, it will not be as awesome as it used to be, I usually don't catch my own type-o's and I am a terrible speller.