Four years ago…

on June 23, 2006 my husband Tom and I were at a Farm Bureau Convention in Columbus Ohio. He was feeling “sick” and decided to go sit outside on a bench while the meeting was winding down. After sitting down he was unable to get back up and was luckily discovered by someone who ran in and found me. We at first thought he was having a heart attack and called the e-squad but as I looked closely at him I saw that his eyeballs had become very yellow. When the ambulance arrived his blood pressure was 70 over palp ( nothing) and we were scared to death. They asked where I wanted him taken, to Riverside or OSU and I said to the closest one, which turned out to be OSU. After arriving there and stabilizing his BP they began to question and be concerned about his jaundice. They thought he had some kind of poisoning at first due to the fact he had sprayed our plants just before leaving the previous day. They actually gave him a haz-met shower even though he had already showered twice since spraying. They then started the scanning process and bloodwork. The bloodwork was totally out of whack. Liver enzymes sky high. The CT showed a “blockage” in the bile duct. He was eventually admitted and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive home, after a very, very, long day. The first thing the next morning after calling our kids I got on the internet to see what caused a blockage in the bile ducts. I absolutely shook when I read that it was either gallstones ( Oh please God, let it be gallstones!!) or this really terrible, rare, terminal cancer.MY daughter did the same thing after I talked to her and had the same reaction!! That was the beginning of our journey. Two days later the diagnosis was official. After an unsuccessful attempt at surgery we were told he had 6-18 months at best. Luckily, because we were in Columbus at the time and OSU was the closest hospital and the one we chose to take him to, he received treatment there that he would not have received anywhere else. Yes, he has some problems occasionally due to radiation damage but he is strong and healthy and no one would believe that he has been through all that he has. He is now stent-less again after a successful ercp last week. The scar tissue in his duct was successfully dilated and the Dr. that did his ercp feels that there is no evidence of cancer returning. I believe his ca19 numbers will fall after he heals from all of the procedures he has had and after his prostate cancer is seeded in 2 weeks. His story is one of success without surgery and one that people should be aware of. Having surgery isn’t necessarily a cure. There are other treatments available and as Tom has shown they can be very successful! He was told half a dozen times that he only had a year to live, that only 1 % of patients survive longer than that without surgery, and he simply told them that he would just have to be part of that 1%! As Lainey and others say, attitude is everything! Keep the faith, take your supplements, eat your spinach and drink your carrot juice and who knows!! The Drs. obviously don’t know everything and most admit it. Best wishes to all and here’s to another four years!!! Mary