Just got a call from my sister back East. My first cousin, who is very close to my sister, was just diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer that is also in her liver. She is 49 years old, married to a wonderful guy and has a great family of 3 kids, she is really an incredible person we were all close to as kids and I just spoke to her Dad last week, my Uncle on my father's side. She just moved to a real nice house on the Lake in northern NJ about a month or so ago.
She was having stomach pain, went through a bunch of tests and they found nothing. It then got so bad she went to the ER in excruciating pain and suddenly they do a scan and find it.
They immediately put a port in her and are giving her chemo. Chances are very slim she makes it and while I do know that some immunotherapy with special cocktails these days, her outlook is poor. :-)
I'm stunned and this is another of our cursed family with cancer. Like 12 of our family.
Just live your life and enjoy everyday because if you keep postponing things until the future, it may never arrive.......
I have always believed I will have a short life like so many in our family so I live it up like my time on this Earth is very limited.
Originally Posted by Monticore:
CT scans cause about 2% of all cancers in the US so not using them as a screening tool would be best practice , there are some cancers that are just hard to diagnose early or some can progress rapidly within months or weeks , if you do have symptoms don’t wait , get second opinion etc.. but screening every person , every few weeks would just collapse most medical systems.
As for the OP sorry about your loss , my uncle just died from Stage 4 pancreatic cancer , had testing 5-6 months ago which shows nothing and they found it incidentally and lung screen CT in Feb , lasted about 1 month after that Cancer sucks , 27 years finding cancers on friends and family is not something you get used to
That is good info to know about CT scans.
Very frustrating as cancer seems to hit my family hard too. Lost my dad in his 50s and both my grandpas. I don't expect to live very long. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
That is good info to know about CT scans.
Very frustrating as cancer seems to hit my family hard too. Lost my dad in his 50s and both my grandpas. I don't expect to live very long.
I did the X-ray that discovered my moms lung CA , my wife had gotten my mom a CT lung screen maybe 3-4 months before because she was suspicious of lung CA , CT was negative at the time , my mom lasted about 4 months after that . [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
That is good info to know about CT scans.
Very frustrating as cancer seems to hit my family hard too. Lost my dad in his 50s and both my grandpas. I don't expect to live very long.
Mammogram are another test people don’t realize have pretty high dose and why there is a debate about what age they should start screening because they are unsure how man cancers they could be instigating, mammo use low Kv and high mas which equals high tissue absorption . [Reply]
Very sorry to hear this. My buddy and neighbor has colon cancer and Lymphoma. I hate this Fricken disease. Getting scared myself with my history and now mysterious weight loss. Hang in there buddy. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Monticore:
Mammogram are another test people don’t realize have pretty high dose and why there is a debate about what age they should start screening because they are unsure how man cancers they could be instigating, mammo use low Kv and high mas which equals high tissue absorption .
What about an ultrasound? I imagine they are much much less expensive than CT scans. Are they as dangerous? [Reply]
AI is going to revolutionize the manner and timing of cancer diagnosis and treatment. But it’s going to take a bit longer until we’re there. Sorry to hear about your cousin, that’s awful. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
What about an ultrasound? I imagine they are much much less expensive than CT scans. Are they as dangerous?
Ultrasound are harmless, but much more user and patient dependent when it comes to accuracyand quality , organs like pancreas are very difficult to see completely because of their location under the stomach/pyloris and duodenum, air/gas can obscure organs and why we are not great at seeing the GI tract , large body habitus can make ultrasound non diagnostic in some cases , and where would you limit the scan to? Neck/abdo/pelvis/groin/axilla/breast / heart , ultrasound can’t see in bone, lungs , brain , scanning all that on every one every 6 months would be fairly expensive and time consuming and it would delay care of people with acute issues . [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
It's because of money hungry hospitals and stupid insurance companies. Catching cancer early would save a bunch of money and that's revenue hospitals would lose. It'd save insurance companies a ton of money if they'd pay for a yearly scan, but for some reason they would never do this.
No one gives a shit about us or our health. Money is the only thing that matters to these people
This. I've actually listened to a telephone conversation where a longtime coworker was told by our health insurance company that they wouldn't pay for his liver transplant. It was about $1 million at the time. He never drank, was with the company for 30+ years, and was 2-3 months from death. They gave him a death sentence on fucking speakerphone.
Our company ponied up the cash for him, but screw insurance companies. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Monticore:
I did the X-ray that discovered my moms lung CA , my wife had gotten my mom a CT lung screen maybe 3-4 months before because she was suspicious of lung CA , CT was negative at the time , my mom lasted about 4 months after that .
Sorry to hear
I assume she had small cell lung cancer
One thing about lung cancer it’s really not hereditary. It’s from the environment.
My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer in 81. Her sister a few years later
One thing I learned is there is a gene and it wasn’t passed onto my mom
My mom ended up with breast cancer back in 2016. It was found very early thru 3d scanning. It was very small. She beat it
Just recently my mom died of small cell lung cancer. Most times once diagnosed it’s too late. She died 2 weeks after being diagnosed
Feb 9 she has my son. Took him to Union Station
Feb 10 went to my sons basketball game then dinner. She fell going down the stairs outside of Red Robin. She was ok. Just slipped.
Feb 14. She watched my son so my wife and I can go out.
Feb 15. She texted she had Covid.
Between the 15th and 21st went to urgent care
Aldo sent out sone confusing texts. Felt dizzy
Feb 21. Went to er. Thought her BP was high. They told her to relax and not take her BP that much. No chest X-ray. No bloodwork
Feb 23. Went to a diff ER. Sane symptoms. Her sodium level was 109. That’s a very critical level. Most often people are in a coma not conscious. They said it might be a sign of cancer They felt it was coming down gradually due to her being alert
Previous to this she had her wellness visit in October. Everything was good
She was in the hospital about 10 days trying to get her sodium up. She was slurring her words at time and talking nonsense. They thought she might have been having a stroke and tias. Nothing. They thought she had pneumonia as well. Chest rays. Scans. Did not find anything. Except 2 nodules on her skull.
Got out of the hospital. Was suppose to see her oncologist that week but ended up back in the hospital.
Match7-8? Went back to er. Had fluid in Her lungs. Low sodium as well.
Was told it’s csncer. But non small cell The better kind. She ended up staying til [Reply]
