Thursday, 8-30-07
Pancreatic Cancer has never been in my vocabulary before . . . didn’t know what it was . . . and really never thought anything about it. To be quite frank, I didn’t even know what the pancreas did for our bodies until two long weeks ago! Not only do I now know, but so does my family and friends . . . we all know how ugly and devastating those two words can be . . . Pancreatic Cancer!
Bill, my sweet, loving, supportive husband, and I were so excited because we were getting ready to go see our favorite spectator sport, the PBR - Pro Bull Riders, in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday, July 20, 2007. I kept aching in my stomach, the mid-section, as if I had an ulcer. It was just a low grade burning, so I chose to ignore it and have fun watching my favorite Bull Riders over that weekend. While in Tulsa, we had such a good time, site seeing, visiting with the Bull Riders at their “Meet and Greet” session, eating out, and enjoying being together. I just put the pain factor on the back burner, and decided that I would address that later if it kept on.
Everyone knows that I eat good, low fat, low sugar, with lots of fruit and vegetables thrown in for good meal balance, therefore when the pain happened again, I just couldn’t figure out what I might be eating that would cause that much burning. Ulcers maybe???? Oh well, I thought, it will go away. It certainly wasn’t such a bad pain that it was debilitating, so I just kept on at my normal “Hummingbird” pace.
A couple of weeks went by, and I could still feel this aching, burning pain in the middle of my stomach, going over to the right, under my ribs. I thought about it and decided that I would go to the doctor as soon as my Grandson Devon returned home after a week of staying with his Grandma and Grandad. I met Shelly, my daughter, and Devon in Denton on Tuesday, 7-31-07, and Devon and I returned to my house, after a detour to McDonald’s for a quick snack of Chicken McNuggets and a Dr. Pepper. That night, I was really feeling som pain in my stomach, but not wanting to dampen Devon (or Grandma’s) spirit, I again pushed the stomach pain to the back of my mind. On Saturday, 8-4-07, Bill and I took Devon back to Poolville, so that Shelly could take Devon to his Physical Therapist in Ft. Worth. We returned from Ft. Worth, and went to the PBR Battle of the Bulls in Weatherford that evening. No hurting or aching, so I was good to go, I thought. We spent the night with Shelly and B.J., and returned home to Yantis on Sunday, with me sleeping most of the way (normal for me if Bill is driving). When we got home, I was just extra tired, but I chalked that off to me being 61 and Devon is 8, and after all, I had planned way too much for us to do the previous week!
Monday morning, 8-6-07, I called for an appointment with Dr. Pierce, and got right in with a 9:30 AM appointment. Dr. Pierce thought may stomach pain was either ulcers, or maybe a gall bladder problem, and scheduled me for some lab work and a Ultrasound of the Gall Bladder.
During the Ultrasound, Dr. Jennings, our resident Radiologist, came in and took a look at what the Ultrasound Tech was viewing on the computer, and he commented then that I had a dilation of the pancreatic duct, which looked a little worrisome to him. Ok, . . . worrisome . . . so that is not a big medical word. My lab came back looking ok, but in the mean time, Dr. Pierce ordered a Hida Scan to be performed on my ducts running from the stomach to the gall bladder to the pancreas. On 8-14-07, I had the Hida Scan which revealed everything flowed ok from organ to organ and no problems were detected. On 8-20-07, 11:00 AM, a Cat Scan was performed on me to look at the gall bladder, liver, pancreas and stomach.
That afternoon I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Pierce for Tuesday morning, 8-21-07 at 11:30 AM, anticipating that I would need to discuss with him all the tests I have had so far. Tuesday morning I got to work and went straight to Radiology and requested a report of my Cat Scan. After reviewing the Cat Scan report, I noticed that Dr. Jennings had stated that my dilated pancreatic duct was worrisome for Pancreatic Carcinoma, and then I saw other medical terms like low density mass, neoplasm in the pancreatic ucinate area. Hmmmm . . . I thought, I had better check those words out on Google. Uh-oh, carcinoma is CANCER; neoplasm can be a tumor or cancer mass . . . , so immediately I call my Bill and told him that I would like for him to go with me to Dr. Pierce’s office for consultation. Bill passed every car on Hwy 69, and got here in record time. We arrived at my 11:30 AM appointment, and Dr. Pierce looked over all the reports, stating that the information is troubling. Bill and I were in shock, we were devastated, things were just not sinking in. Bill left to go home, I returned to my office, and Dr. Pierce’s nurse Rebecca called me with an appointment to meet with a Gastroenterologist, Dr. Lin the next day.
Dr. Lin was a nice doctor, not much experience in Pancreatic Cancer, but he did feel that I need a biopsy to be conclusive, and Bill and I agreed. He had me stop by the Trinity Mother Francis Lab and have a more extensive blood test done. On Friday evening, Dr. Lin called our home at 6:30 PM with the dreaded news . . . My CA19-9 Tumor Marker test was “high”, and I asked him how high. His answer was “very high”. He said that he would get everything scheduled for the biopsy with Dr. Duvall, and call to let me know when that will be.
I am now scheduled for Tuesday, September 4, 2007, 2:45 PM for the biopsy that will tell us the news of which road I travel next. I have FAITH, HOPE, Love of my GOD, and I know he will take care of me. He will give me the courage to face what lies ahead, and he will give me the encouragement to help and love my children and husband through a very uncertain time in our lives. Remember, he already knows the outcome of the biopsy that will be performed on Tuesday.
Please pray for us, sing your praises LOUD, FULL OF LOVE, and RESPECT to God, our Father, our Maker, our Lord of the Heavens and universe. He holds my life in his hands and he already knows whether I will be here for another season, or if it is my time to join him in heaven. I love my family, and I will always love my family. I love you Bill Ruslink, my husband; I love you Warren - my son; I love you Shelly Ruth; and I love you Lisa! I love you Kari, and Tami, and Devon, with all my heart I love you all!
