I've been away for a few weeks. Some of you may remember I have an autoimmune disease that attacks the liver called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis(PSC). This has been starting to really wear on my health. Chronic fatigue, brain fog, etc. to the point that I can't work. It also increases your risk of getting Cholangio Carcinoma (liver cancer). You may remember I was starting a drug trial when COVID hit. In order to get on the trial, I had to go through multiple tests to prove I didn't have CC, MRI, biopsy, blood tests including a CA19-9 cancer antigen test, fibroscan. All came back clear. Four months into the trial, I had a sit down with my trial hepatologist and said I felt something wasn't right. Nothing pointed to cancer. She agreed to do another MRI(good doctor). this was done on a Friday, On the next Monday she called with the results. I could tell from her voice it was not the Costanza "Cancer? Get out of here!" call. Sure enough, I had a 7 cm tumor in my left lobe. The CA19-9 was still normal, so much for that one! She brought together a team at Yale to handle the case. The surgeon feels he can operate and resect that part of the liver. The oncologist is hitting it with chemo, 2 Mondays on 1 Monday off, this is my off week. They want to do that 3 times and take a fresh look. If all looks good, the surgeon will go in and cut it out. Big operation, no small risk and it leaves me with half an ailing liver to go on. If the tumor had been smaller, they might have gone for a transplant but no dice.
First, chemo sucks but it beats the alternative. Second, I'm lucky to have resection as an option though the operation scares the hell out of me.
Needless to say, I've stayed away from politics and Tanknet. In a world where people are at each other's throats, my wife and I have been blessed with a wealth of good will from friends, family, healthcare workers and people I've never met before. It's truly humbling and a great reminder of the goodness in the world it's easy to miss. I choose to focus on that now.
God bless.