Small Intestine Cancer

[lareese68]

My name is Laurie and my journey began in February 2015 when I began having stomach aches with pressure and bloating and acid reflux, etc. I had even vomited on two different occasions, about two weeks apart. My doctor and I thought it might be my gall bladder, although we both agreed that the pain was really not in the usual place for gall bladder symptoms (my pain and pressure was in the center of my body just below my chest). My doctor did a sonogram to "rule out" the gall bladder, and lo and behold I had gall stones!! They removed my gall bladder by laparoscopic surgery on March 17, 2015. Within two days of the surgery, I was contacting the surgeon to tell him that my stomach aches were continuing and they felt exactly the same. I was told that I needed to give things more time and that my body had to adjust to being without the gall bladder. I continued a downward spiral over the course of seven weeks following that surgery. My stomach pains grew worse, and I began vomiting on a regular basis - pretty much every day and often two or three times a day. It was not normal vomiting either - I was bringing up what seemed like gallons of dark green stomach acid and I would not stop until my stomach was completely emptied!! I told the surgeon that I wondered how I was even walking under my own power because I knew I must be getting dehydrated because nothing was really staying down. My stomach felt as if something was living inside of it as it was constantly churning and flipping and growling, etc. I lost 22 lbs. during this seven week time period. On May 3rd I was getting ready for an awards dinner for my daughter, who was graduating high school soon, and I came very close to passing out twice as I was showering. It was very scary and I was afraid I would pass out and hit my head. I checked myself in to the ER that evening and was informed that I was severely dehydrated and in acute renal failure. I was admitted and given lots of fluids to stabilize me. On about the third day, they decided to do an Upper GI ( I had previously had a CT scan and an endoscopy during my seven week ordeal and both found nothing). I could tell immediately from the monitor that there was an obvious blockage just past the stomach area into my small intestine. They then did another endoscopy which reached further into my small intestine and found the blockage and biopsied it. Turned out to be a complete blockage of my small intestine that of course required surgery to remove. I was lucky they were able to remove the tumor at all, my surgeon stated that this is only possible about 40% of the time. The surgeon removed about 6-7 inches of my small intestine and sectioned it back together. There was evidence of "microscopic cancer cells" left behind, and therefore my treatment is chemotherapy (Folfox and 5FU) and radiation.