Tuesday, 29 November 2016

More blood!

So yesterday I received a call from the head nurse in the nursing station, letting me know they received a fax from Dr. Folk and that he says my liver function has improved.  Yay?  I didn't do anything and I couldn't have done anything and I doubt this changes the fact I have a tumour so it's a short-lived victory.

Today I received a phone call from the nursing station that I have been scheduled for blood work tomorrow first thing in the morning.  Holy crap!  How many more blood tests do they NEED?  I wonder if the one test thawed out again.  :P  We will find out tomorrow!

Friday, 25 November 2016

When doctors become vampires

In the week since I posted, I've had blood work done twice.  Once on the 19th and once again on the 23rd.  The blood work was to check all sorts of things, such as hepatitis, my kidney enzymes, my liver enzymes, how well my blood clots, et cetera.  I had to return on the 23rd because one of the initial tests was supposed to reach the lab frozen and it had thawed by the time it got there, so they had to do it again.  The doctor had also ordered another test be done (nurse wouldn't tell me what it was) so that was drawn too.

I spoke briefly with Debbie, who seems to be the head nurse, and she told me the CT scan won't be booked until "they" receive all the blood work results.  So soon I should be hearing about that appointment and hopefully the liver cancer specialist appointment.  I am hoping to get them done a few days apart so I can get the CT scan, head to Winnipeg, see the specialist, and fly back here all in one excursion.  I imagine I will have to do some phoning around to get that set up.

Last night, my husband was beginning to find out how much of a fatalist I am, because in my mind I'm assuming the tumour is cancer. I told him I'm preparing for the worst. He said I should hope for the best. I said "No, you have to prepare for the worst. That way then they tell you it's not cancer you're almost upset." "Because you spent all that energy preparing?" "Yeah!" He facepalmed at that point.

I also told him yesterday that the 5 year success rate for early stage liver cancer is 50% (which means that 50% of people in the early stage live at LEAST 5 years).  That's if it was a single tumour which was removed, with no cirrhosis or other major health concerns.  He started freaking out at that.  He then decided that like Han Solo, he never wants to hear the odds.

Thursday, 17 November 2016

Liver Tumour

I originally posted this to Facebook, but not everyone gets updates from Facebook so I am updating the blog for those who need to get caught up and do not want to scroll forever to find the information on my page.  I'm even backdating this to when I posted it to Facebook (17 Nov @ 9p Central)

So people know I had an MRI a couple weeks ago. I didn't exactly keep that secret to people I've talked with recently. I did not tell most people it was for my liver. I talked with the Dr yesterday and he told me there's a "small spot of accelerated cellular growth" in a "benign" area of the liver. For those of you who don't speak biology, that means I have a small tumour in my liver. However, he thinks it's a hepatocellular adenoma which are benign (i.e., non-cancerous).

Today I received a call from the same Dr and he is referring me to a hematologist-oncologist in Winnipeg which, for those trying to keep up, is a liver cancer specialist. He also had a bunch of blood work done and is booking me for a CT scan.

tl;dr I have a tumour in my liver, but I have NOT been diagnosed with cancer. But we're investigating to be certain.

DON'T PANIC. plzkthx