I want to begin by thanking God for showing me the symptoms and finding it as early as was possible to do. He is the one who has made it possible for me to have hope….for He is our Healer….Redeemer…and the ONLY ONE WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE!
It all began in May with me not feeling well…not eating right…blah…for about 2 weeks..so finally I went to Urgent Care and found out my bowels were backed up…and told to take Miralax…Well that didn’t work so I called my GI doctor and he put me on some other stuff….till I said hey my body needs a break..it had been a week of just torture trying to have a bowel movement!!
Well then I began to itch…scratch…and my skin was turning a not too attractive yellow…a nurse and sister at my church that Sunday night said go to the ER when I leave…and I did…my liver enzymes were way too high and I was admitted….something was blocking my bile duct from working…they thought gall stones….so I was admitted and the following day I had the endoscopy done….to their surprise the duct was swollen shut….and they put a stint in….telling me I must go to Indianapolis ( I live near Dayton Oh) for they were the ones with advanced equipment and would tell me what was wrong…
So the last day of June I spent getting another type of endoscopy where they go further down than my doctor could do….and when I woke they said they found cancer cells in the head of my pancreas…and that was that! I thought okay now let’s get rid of it…FAST! I spent the next day doing all the pre-surgical testing and paperwork then came home..
So far I have only been “sick” like for a month and now guess what? Two weeks later on July 12th I had my surgery…called the “Whipple” procedure…they remove the cancer….gall bladder…bile duct…and lymph nodes to check for cancer….now remember we only found out 2 weeks ago and now I am 2 hours from home…and I “wigged” out as my doctor put it!! Scared him into thinking I might not make it…alas I remember very little of the next 2 weeks or so….what I do remember really DIDN’T happen!! I was a danger to myself so had a “babysitter” for my entire time there….I was in for 22 days and it was an average 9 day normal hospital stay…I had to be difficult to say the least.
I will spare you all those details but I went to my sister’s house for 2 weeks so I could recuperate somewhat before coming home after being gone for 35 days!!!
I was thankful but in a lot of pain still and nauseous and light headed so spent 3 trips to the ER in a panic…thinking I was dying to say the least!! But God…who is ever faithful….has seen me thru and will continue to do so….whatever tomorrow brings.
My whole reason for writing this is to let you and others know the symptoms to watch for…if anything like this happens please go to your GI IMMEDIATELY and get tested….normally pancreatic cancer is found out too late for surgery..only 25% have surgery….and the survival rate is only 5% after it……but since mine was found so early!!!….my stats are in the 50% range….which by the way, it is up to God….not man!!
I meet with my chemo doctors next week and will keep you updated as I go..they did find cancer in 2 of the nodes but even if not found any…would still need the chemo for pancreatic cancer is the fasting spreading and killing cancer out there…but remember whatever tomorrow brings…God is there by your side!
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Susan says
Praise the Living Lord for your recovery and healing in His name Michelle! You will continue to be in my prayers and covered in the Lord’s blessings, healing and peace!