Semi-newly diagnosed :D
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Hi Katie,
Glad you found this site. You got great attitude, spunk, and energy, all the things you need to kick this cancer to the curb!!! I am very certain you will do a lot to help others on this site, by virtue of your attitude, and this site will give you strength as it has done for all of us.
In my fathers case, Gemzar was a peice of cake.
BTW, Happy Belated B-day!!
Peace
BarbaraDear Katie:
Welcome! You will find lots of wonderful friends in this discussion group. Sounds like you are getting excellent treatment. Liver resection plus gemicitabine chemotherapy is very aggressive, but that is the one-two cholangio punch that can help keep this disease at bay.
Keep your chin up; you have great attitude!
Violarob in Texas
Hi Katie,
I wanted to welcome you and say wow, you have a great attitude! You have every reason to be positive, as you’re young and only stage 2 and were able to have resection – that’s really great news. Gemzar and Gemcitabine are different names for the same thing, pretty much, and the pretty standard treatment for this. Of course they’re going to be extra aggressive treating you, just to be on the safe side, and they figure you’re young enough to take it.I wish you all the luck in the world – keep smiling!
Joyce M
Thanks so much Tess! I feel a lot better now, after spending 7 or so hours in the hospital today.. I’ll definitely stick around and update you guys. I hope I learn enough so I can help other people too!
– Katie
Hi Katie & happy late birthday! I’m glad you found this crew, make sure to come back & keep us posted on your progress. You have a great spirit & sense of humor! You’ve endured so much for your age & the strength you’ve found to do it has already made you a better person. Keep growing strong & healthy- you’re in our thoughts.
-Tess
Well my dad’s uncle (he passed from cancer a few months ago) always taken pride in us being German, so I looked up some vocabulary. Since I like to bake, “the cake” stuck and that’s been my username for a couple sites I go on.
According to the papers I got today, I’m supposed to get.. Gemzar? Gemcitabine? Lol sorry, new to all these terms. I’m supposed to get that intravenously for about 6 months (3 weeks on, 1 week off).
And I’m trying to not be a wimp after this surgery! It’s not my first but surely the most major one yet. I’m raring to go back to work already since I’m on medical leave from school with nothing else to do.
Hi derkuchen….so glad that you have found us. By the way, how did you come up with the name? The Cake?
There is much good news in your posting. You are young and the cancer had been caught early. Sounds as if you have rebound well from the surgery, also. What type of chemotherapy has been recommended to you?
And back at you: It is nice meeting you.
MarionHi guys! I’m so happy to have stumbled upon this message board, I had no idea there were so many people with this like me.
Where to start? I’m Katie, and I just turned nineteen last month. After having severe pain and shortness of breath at work, I’d just assumed I’d pulled a muscle. (ShopRite sales are wicked, haha) I went to my doctor, then to the ER where I had a CAT scan. Told me I had a mass on my liver, but I’d be able to live with it if I didn’t want to have it removed. I scheduled an appointment with my mom’s surgeon anyway because mass = bad news to me.
The day of the appointment I threw up bile everywhere and was admitted to the hospital finally. The night I was admitted, I had an MRI (those things are scary!! haha) which eventually showed that the mass was a tumor, and it was very involved with my liver. My surgeon was too afraid to operate, so he suggested I go to Sloan Kettering, since they had much more experience with this sort of thing. The symptoms subsided after they put me on antibiotics via IV.
Since I was stable, it wasn’t a hospital to hospital transfer. So I did the whole pre-admission stuff and then got admitted. So about three weeks ago, I had my liver resection done at Memorial Sloan Kettering, in NYC and stayed a week (including my birthday, but the nurses brought me balloons! how sweet of them). At the time they thought the tumor was benign, just a hepatocellular carcinoma or something. I have to take birth control for my PCOS, so they thought that’s what caused it. About a week after I was released from the hospital, my surgeon called with the bad news. Being parents, my parents bugged out, but something told me the night before it would turn out to be this way, so I’d accepted the news on my own terms. They caught the cancer very early so I’m lucky to even be here! I always remind them of that when they get all mopey.
Apparently the tumor was the size of a softball (reminds me of when I was a kid and failed at softball, got hit with those in the face a lot) and he’d caught it when I was in stage 2 of the cancer. At any rate, I should be starting my chemotherapy via IV this Friday. He says the chemo is just a precaution in case they missed little cells or something, but it’s 3 times a month for 6 months. That seems sort of aggressive doesn’t it? This whole ordeal has just been really… different? Scary? for me and I just hope it helps me to become a better person once it’s done with. It’s nice to meet everyone!
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