9toes's blog

I started back to work on the 21st. Fortunately my job mostly involves sitting at a desk. So, things have been OK. I’m just taking ibuprofin for the dull ache that remains.

9/3 – Went to the doctor about hernia acting up. The doctor called a surgeon, made an appointment for the following day, and told me not to eat or drink after midnight.

9/4 – Surgeon decided that I needed it repaired right away. He found some omentum tissue and there were things he didn’t like the look of. He took samples and sent them for testing.

9/7 – I noticed some swelling and fluid buildup in the area

9/8 – Called the doctor’s office to ask about the fluid buildup. The nurse asked how much there was. I told her it was about as big as the hernia had been, she said to come in the following day.

9/9 – The surgeon wasn’t concerned about the swelling and fluid build up as it was about what he expected. However, he had something else to tell me. He had spoken with the lab that tested the tissue he sent in and they said it looked cancerous.

This just about floored me. He said he would have his people call an oncologist and a gastroenterologist to get appointments. He also wanted a lower abdomen CT scan thinking that the cancer was in that area. They called that night saying that they hadn’t been able to schedule anything yet, and I should hear from them the next day.

9/10 – The next morning I got a call saying that they found a slot for me that day. It was a simpler process than I expected.

9/11 – Went to the gastroenterologist and wasn’t impressed at all. So, I am going to go to another instead.

9/15 – The oncologist was very personable, and went out of his way to explain things. What I got out of it is that there were 5 markers of importance from the tests so far. 3 indicate general gastrointestinal warnings, 1 was negative, the fifth was a pancreas indicator. He ordered more tests. Blood tests, 2 more CT scans (chest and pancreas), and a PET scan. Was able to give the blood for testing at a nearby lab.

9/16 – Spent the day calling around to make appointments for the scans. Another call was to insurance company’s 24 hour nurse line. She mentioned that they have a special program for helping people with a cancer diagnosis through the various processes, and offered to get me in touch with them. By the time I was done I had scheduled the CT for 9/18 and the PET for 9/19.

9/17 – While at lunch, got a call from the insurance cancer nurse. She was quite nice, and informative. Gave her the rundown of things, and she seemed to be impressed with the progress so far, and the informativeness of the oncologist. She also sent me some valuable information and tips for how to proceed with things.

9/18 – On the way to get the CT scans that the oncologist wanted got a call from the hospital saying that the insurance company didn’t approve the pancreas CT because I had gotten the other scan so recently. So, all I got was the chest.

9/19 – The PET was easier than I expected. The whole thing took about three hours from the time we walked in to the time we walked out.

The next appointment I have is 9/30 with the oncologist. I’ll know more then and will update.

At the moment all signs are that this has been caught early. Which is a godsend.