Three days later the biopsy
results came back. No cancer! Deep sigh of relief for me and for us. Also, no Valley Fever. That was ok too, but that had never really
worried me. They were proceeding as if
this was just a large yeast infection. However,
the second doctor did not believe the pathology of the biopsies. He swore it was cancer and scheduled me for a
second esophageal endoscope four days after the first one so he could re-biopsy
the mass himself. My first thought was
that he wanted it to be
cancer. It made me mad actually, but I
went ahead and had it done again. After
the scope, he said he’d biopsied deeper and did well over ten different places
on the mass. I was still mad. I kept asking myself why he wanted this to be
cancer so badly. All I could come up
with was he either wanted the surgical fee, or he was one of these that could
not stand to be wrong. Probably both. The damn biopsies came back clear so LEAVE
it! But he didn’t. This round of results would be back in three
or four business days. Yay... I get to fret about it all weekend since it
was a Friday.
The following Wednesday we get a
call to come into the doctor’s office.
The biopsy came back as cancer this time. It was exceptionally small and it took two different
pathologists to see it, so it was VERY early on. So early and so small in fact that they
couldn’t differentiate the kind of cancer it was. He said the mass that I had was caused by the
Barrett’s Esophagus. What Barrett’s
Esophagus? No one ever said anything
about that before. I’d never had
symptoms, let alone a diagnosis that would have caused a mass that large. How can that be? We never really got a good answer for
that. The bottom line was it was
cancerous and we had to decide what to do about it. He was going to confer with the oncologist
and see what would be the best next step and would be in touch. While that was going on I was going to have
an esophageal ultrasound and a CT Scan to see how deep the cancer was and
determine what stage it was. The
oncologists said that it was so small and early on they would be surprised if
it was any more than stage 2. Try to
have a good Christmas… Gee thanks and
Merry Christmas to you too, doc.
The week after Christmas I had
the next scope of the esophagus with the ultrasound the CT Scan. Again, another three to seven days wait for
results. The results came back showing
it was NOT in the esophageal wall at all or behind it. This is good.
Another sign the stage was very early.
They set it as stage 1. This
particular type of cancer is rare and it is even rarer to find it this
early. I should consider myself
lucky. Sure, I’m lucky. I’ve got cancer. I’m real lucky. I was still in denial I guess. Next up, a PET scan to show if the cancer was
anyplace else other than in the esophagus.
The PET scan was done just after
New Year’s in January, 2013. By this
time I was getting numb to a lot. I was
not really hearing anything anymore. All
I knew was I had cancer. It was burned
into my brain. Very little else
registered. Not even the fact I was
still losing weight and not eating much.
The PET showed a bright spot exactly where the doc said I had the
cancer. That was expected. However, it
also showed that three lymph nodes also were glowing a little meaning that they
had cancer in them too. My brain did register that. Lymph nodes filter
the blood. That means there is a chance
that things could get worse. Great. We need to schedule surgery soon. This surgery will consist of taking out a
good portion of the esophagus as well as the top portion of the stomach, then
stretching the stomach up into the chest and re-attaching it to what was left
of the esophagus. Then he asked if I had
had any heart tests done. I never
had. Even though I had high blood
pressure, my heart health was never brought into question. My cholesterol was good and I did not have
diabetes, even though I was overweight.
He scheduled me for a heart stress test for the day before surgery to
make sure my heart could handle a surgery of this magnitude. Now I start to worry if I have the strength
to make it through the surgery, let alone the cancer. This just keeps getting better and better.
I'll see you all again in a couple of days for the next entry... Thanks for reading along!
