Hello From Mississippi!!!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

All of this started July 2011, for the 1st two weeks my husband complained of headaches, belching & pain in the upper stomach area. Finally I talked him into seeing a dr on July 20th and he was diagnosed with High blood pressure & heart was racing. The dr called an ambulance & he was taken to the ER. Once there drs ordered x-rays & tons of blood work. After about 5 hrs he was admitted to a room & we were told “All blood work showed was Liver enzymes were .2 above normal. An hr & 1/2 later CT & ultrasound was performed…heart dr came in & said “Apparently you’ve had a heart attack”. More test were ran up until midnite.
The next day oncology dr came by & told us that Don had cancer. CT showed spots on liver & lungs. He was then scoped up one end & down the other to see if any other problems. Was told he also has acid reflux & hiatal hernia. then by noon, heart test was done & showed needed 2 stents in heart. That was put on hold til a biopsy could be done on the liver.
Don was in the hospital July 20th-26th , we even celebrated our daughter’s 23rd bday at the hospital. He was sent home with follow-up @ the West Clinic (Cancer Clinic) in town.
His appt was Aug 3rd…had MRI & was waiting to have liver biopsy but the dr decided to do it with a lymph node in his neck that was swollen. Said he didnt want the hubby to have to indur more pain that wasn’t necessary. Results 5 days later showed no clue as to where cancer started….so more test was going to be done. While waiting for those results ,hubby had the port put in and the 2 stents in his heart.
On Aug 18th, we were told the tests showed cancer started in the liver & spread to the lungs. Cancer was called “Cholangiocarcinoma and we needed to start paperwork for disability because he would never work again.” Forgot to mention that Don is 54 years old.The dr asked if we had questions & I asked him what stage of cancer. His response was “I don’t want to tell you…it’s Stage IV”. He said I must have known what stage because I was asking a lot of questions…that I must have been looking it up. Then he said “I REFUSE TO SAY HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO LIVE”.
Before leaving a plan of treatment was scheduled & then scheduled for stents & portacath to be put in.
On Aug 31st, chemo was started with cisplatin & gemcitabine once a week for 2 weeks then off a week…this would go for 12 times. On the 5th time of treatment CT was done…showed everything was the same. Treatments continued til the 9th one ,CT showed lung spots smaller…liver the same & a spot on spine. While all this is going on, I’m at the hospital w/our 15 yo…kidney stones. It seemed like our lives were falling apart at the seams. Hubby was only able to do total of 11 treatments because of low blood counts. Last treatment was on Dec 21,2011.
Now it’s a new yr, on Jan 11th…CT showed spots on lungs were back & liver the same. It was discussed w/us about hubby going on a Trial study. We talked w/dr & our kids, decided to do it. He was put on Tesatexol & Xeloda. Did fine until almost finishing the 2nd bottle of Xeloda…had a reaction to it. Feet & hands swelled to the point of not being able to walk or hold anything…also in alot of pain. Treatment was stopped on Mar 9th.
Sorry this is so long…didn’t realize it was so late. Will write more tomorrow after getting some sleep.
Thanks for “listening”.