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| My Cancer Diagnosis
by magicmanfeyrune at 10/11/2009 6:42:34 AM
It's been 1 year since I was diagnosed with cancer. I was originally diagnosed with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, bilateral clear type renal cell carcinoma, and a hemangiolastoma in my brain. It was later confirmed through genetic testing to be a condition known as Von Hippel-Lindau, or VHL for short. It's a condition that turns off the tumor-suppressing genes, so I'll continue to develop tumors for the rest of my life.
It's been a constant barrage of doctors, tests, surgeries, and treatments. I'm thankful that my family and my roommate have been there for me through everything.
I've been through 3 surgeries, so far. The first surgery was to treat the symptoms of the pancreatic tumor blocking my bile duct. The doctors at Virginia Beach General went in an took biopsies of the tumors they saw and inserted a stent temporarily.
The second surgery was the big one. It's called a Whipple procedure. The surgeons at UVA removed by pancreas, spleen, duodenum, and lower bile duct. As a result, I now live with surgically-induced diabetes and have to take insulin as well as pancreatic enzyme replacements. It's been a big change in my life, but I've coped by fitting it in as part of my daily routine.
The third surgery was another open surgery. Once again I went to see the surgeons at UVA, where they resected the tumor from my left kidney. I'll be going back to UVA in December, two weeks before my birthday, to have the tumor on my right kidney frozen and removed.
Right now, I have MRI's and CT scans done quarterly to watch for any development in any of the other tumors they think they see, as well as to watch the tumor in my brain.
During the whole thing, my family, friends, and co-workers have been there for me, and I'm grateful to them for it. During the past year, there have been alot of changes in my life. Besides the medical ones, I've also survived half of my department being laid-off, including my boss. Things are really tight right now because of my roommate losing his job. I barely make enough to pay the bills each month.
Before the lay-offs, I bought a house in Norfolk. It's a nice little duplex, with my roommate and me living on one side and my little sister and her daughter living on the other side. My sister covers the mortgage payments for me until I can get back on my feet and hopefully get a raise at work, once everything calms down there.
Even with insurance, finances have been really tight with all the medical bills. Because of this, I tend to stay at home a lot. I've kept myself busy by bringing a few old computers a friend gave me back to life. I also just finished building a new computer for my mom. Working on computers keeps my spirits up and keeps me distracted, but I'm still lonely.
Even though I have a few friends and my mom and sister watching out for me. I still feel like I don't really have a shoulder to cry on when things get too much for me at times. It's hard to talk about things with the people that are closest sometimes because I don't want to bring them down. I need them to stay positive to help me stay positive.
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