Frustrating Tuesday & Wednesday

Well, I didn’t get the records. Instead I was set up for a PET scan. I got the radioactive injection waited for the required time (2 hours) only to be told that the machine was down & I would have to go to another facility the following day for the test & would need to be injected again. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. The next day when I had the PET scan it was awful. I had to lay flat & was strapped down to remind me not to move. I got very uncomfortable to the point that I called out to the technician, who didn’t respond but fortunately; I only had a few seconds left. It had seemed like an eternity. In the future I think I would prefer to be sedated.

Our Battles Against Cancer

                                              Our Battles Against Cancer

I don’t know what is going to happen yet…what my diagnosis is but I’ve got the feeling that I will be starting the battle of my life. To start at the beginning…I thought I might have a partial bowel obstruction. For over a week I was having problems having bowel movements & couldn’t eat much. I would belch constantly.  I increased the water in my diet…although normally I try to drink 64 ounces a day. I drank an herbal tea to relieve constipation & also another one for cleansing…it went straight through but no stool. Then I tried Mag Citrate which I have recommended to many patients for constipation…again passed a lot of water but no stool.

I was having cramping in my abdomen & felt bloated. At times my stomach was so hard & painful that I couldn’t sleep. I finally went to see my primary care doctor, Dr. Joseph Ravid, who also thought I might have a partial bowel obstruction but it turns out that that wasn’t the problem. I had a CT scan of my abdomen.  I had ascites. I had almost 4 liters of fluid in my abdomen as well as bilateral pleural effusions…fluid in my lungs. My heart was mildly enlarged. I ended up getting a CT of my chest & another of my abdomen, this time with contrast. I got admitted to the hospital for the night so that I could have a paracentesis (stick a needle in my abdomen to draw out the fluid) the following morning. I received IV fluids, clear liquids & pain medication. The pain meds helped a lot with the pain but not with sleeping. I would fall to sleep within 10 minutes after getting the pain meds through the IV but then would wake up an hour later. No pain but couldn’t sleep. I did a lot of walking in the halls. Finally it was time to go to the radiology department for an ultrasound guided paracentesis.  I had almost 4 liters of what looked like lager beer drained off my abdomen. I lost about 8 pounds in 1 hour.

I felt a lot better. It was no longer as difficult to lay flat. I wasn’t as short of breath. I was a little sore but haven’t needed any pain meds since. The worse part though has just begun. It was Friday when I went to the doctor & I ended up admitted to hospital. I was discharged from the hospital on Saturday & now it is Monday night. I am still waiting & wondering if I am going to be in the fight of my life. It is most likely that I have a cancer even though there is nothing obvious on the CT scans. I’m not sure if the radiologist saw anything on the ultrasound (U/S). He did some pointing & the tech did some measuring. I have an increased density in my greater omentum noted on CT. I’m a doctor & I’m not even sure what that means.

I have decided tomorrow to go get copies of my records so I don’t have to wait any longer for the results. I will also get copies (CDs) of the CT scans & U/S. Thursday I will see my family physician for follow up. I have been talking with my brother-in-law who is an Oncologist…cancer specialist. Most likely I have Ovarian CA but if I’m lucky maybe Lymphoma.

My coming out

                                                                   My Coming Out

I started writing this blog back in early May. I am actually just now (Sep 3)  posting what I have written so far because I wanted to wait until we let everyone in our families know what was going on. Now that they all know I would like others to know what can happen even when you think you are living a fairly healthy life. My husband & I have always tried to do things together but we certainly didn’t think we would share cancer experiences. I have back dated all the other blogs to correspond when I actually wrote each blog.