What I have been diagnosed with is a rare and aggressive type of cancer.
Selfie outside the Precision Cancer building at the UCSF Mission Bay campus
It has scared the crap out of me, and I am just starting to call it out by name in order to face it directly.
Cholangiocarcinoma. AKA Biliary Tract carcinoma. Or just bile duct cancer. Its specific location earns another label, a Klatskin tumor.
It’s a nasty cancer. The general prognosis is dismal.
But it looks like I could be among the few who are candidates for “curative” surgery, the only way to beat this thing. Tests done this past week at the University of California San Francisco Precision Cancer Building in San Francisco’s Mission Bay appear to have found no evidence the cancer has spread beyond the original location. That would seem to make a surgical approach in my case more viable.
i’m awaiting the “official” assessment of the surgical oncology option, which I expect to get soon.
Ths is, of course, only a very short version of what has been happening over the past seven weeks as the process of diagnosing and devising a treatment plan has been underway, initially in Hawaii and then in San Francisco.
The selfie was taken early Monday morning, April 13, as I waited for the building at UCSF to open so that I could check in for another CT Scan. I was probably looking more beaten up by the end of the week.
Please keep those positive vibes coming!
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ALoha Ian,
Yes, face it on. It?s a word that is difficult to pronounce. That?s for sure. It?s just a word. Keep it that way. There are many, thousands, millions more thoughts, breathes, and kind words still available for you to choose from. May I suggest mediation to stop the possible thoughts, and worries that may intrude into your mind? I have dear friends who have gone through numerous brain surgeries and are still kicking and having lunch with loved ones – and yes, with minds still intact and sharp. My friend who has had lupus since she was 18 (she?s now 65) has done her homework and knows more than her doctors. She was her dad?s caregiver while managing her symptoms, and is know flying to SFO to care for her sister after her surgery. Keep us posted with your surgery dates. With you all the way. You?ve always been a fighter, so I?m not going to tell you to fight, but I will tell you that I?m sending you positive and healing energy on a daily basis. ke aloha.
Stay strong; stay aggressively positive!
Your enlightening have always been useful and/or entertaining; mahalo.
Positive vibes are multitudinous!