My Dad

Cinnamin,
I don’t know what your dad thinks of the internet or the computer, but it doesn’t hurt to remind him that none of us came with cancellation dates on forehead, feet, or anywhere we could find. If it helps, read to him from this site. Many of us have been dealing with diagnosis/recovery after 3/5/or even 10 years, so don’t let him dwell on the 2-week ticket punch. We take one day at a time and try to enjoy something every day. Most of us found websites that didn’t seem to help at all. We now try to avoid the sites that are depressing, but this site has never been depressing to me.
Your doctors may know the disease and the medicines, but the best expert on your Dad is himself. He is the team leader. Any time he feels that his opinion doesn’t matter to the doctor, he can fire the doctor and find another.
I believe that, besides the power of prayer, the cancer center has played a big part in my still fighting after 2 1/2 years because I have been able to gather my team and be involved in all the decisions I want to.

My Mom was 86 when she was diagnosed and chose not to pursue an aggressive fight. Her oncologist didn’t think she had a year then, but she lived almost 3 years more with prayer as her primary ally. These are the stories often shared on this site because we all go through so many of the same things, we are encouraged by each success no matter how little or major, and the encouragement helps us maintain the fighting attitude. Yes, we also all have down time, but the encouragement helps us get back up, dust ourselves off, and get back into the fight.

At the top of this page is a search forum. You can enter as little or as much as you want in any part of the search function and it will lead you right to relevant posts. You might want to enter San Diego doctors or some variation of that to see what comes up.

Wish I had found this site as quickly as you have. It is so supportive and eliminates much of the frustration I started out with because of difficulty finding relevant information.

Best wishes in the battle; no matter how long it lasts, there will be help for you here.

Louise

Cinnamin….I would like to echo Lainy and Julia by welcoming you to our site. Receiving the diagnoses of Cholangiocarcinoma/bile duct cancer always is shocking especially, when living a healthy lifestyle. But, many times we have seen for a person physically active coupled with good eating habits and still, this cancer strikes. The cause for this disease has not been determined although, there are several risk factors which may or may not lead to contracting this disease:
primary sclerosing cholangitis
congenital liver malformations
infection with the parasitic liver flukes
exposure to Thorotrast
In addition to the help you will receive from the great members of this site you may want to read up on

Dear Cinnamin, welcome to our family, and we are sorry to hear about your dad. Yes, it is a huge shock to find out you have CC. One day you are just fine and the next your whole world is changed. May I ask where you are?
You will want to know if the doctor has treated CC before and how he suggests on proceeding with treatment. I feel the most important thing is to know that if you have any sense at all that the doctor is too vague or does not seem to know enough about CC you have the right to a second opinion.
As for what you can do for your parents? You are already doing it by becoming dad’s advocate. The more you read and learn about CC the more artillery you have as an advocate. I know at 77 my husband gets doctor reports confused so I always make sure I go to every doctor visit with him. I actually do the talking and ask the questions. Make notes is you need to, it’s a lot to absorb.
Feel free to visit us anytime to ask, advise or just plain let go!