Rewind

I want to back up again and fill in some of the relevant details of this tale of mine.  After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer Dr. Garner referred me to a doctor, whose name I can't recall right now, at the University of Washington. I met with the UW doctor and he explained the complexities of my particular situation and went over my options.  The preferred option: 6 months of chemo with the least favorite option being having the surgery right away, which the doctor informed me could be scheduled for January 4th of 2013.  Although the UW is well known for being very good at what they do, I didn't connect well with the doctor so I decided to get a second opinion from a doctor that treated my colleague who also had pancreatic cancer, had surgery to remove the tumor then went through 6 months of chemo and another aggressive treatment called Virginia Mason protocol.  She is now two years cancer free and looking absolutely amazing.  She actually been my angel on earth guiding me through this journey.  Fifteen minutes into my meeting with Dr. Percozzi, my second opinion, and I knew he was the doctor I wanted taking care of me.  He explained the differences between his treatment and the UW and also went into their similarities.  Both hospitals agreed that six months of chemo was the preferred option however Dr. Percozzi didn't present the option of having the surgery as an early option.  It was too dangerous until the chemo could do its thing by shrinking the tumor as it was laying up against some major blood vessels.  The doc also indicated that with my jaundice and severe itching in his opinion I should have been admitted to have a stint put in immediately.  In my opinion, if this stint, which appeared to be a miracle cure for helping me not scratch the rest of my skin off my body, then he was right and I wanted to be admitted.  And so I was.  My rather unique cancer was blocking my bile duct which was preventing necessary waste from passing through and making my body a toxic waste dump.  One of the test I'd taken showed that behind the tumor was sludge.  Yuk. The stint would be inserted into  the liver to open the blockage so the bile could pass through. Wala! Itching relieved = happy Angie = bilirubins back to normal range.

Web MD explains Bulirubin as:
"...a brownish yellow substance found in bile. It is produced when the liver breaks down...A bilirubin test measures the amount of bilirubin in a blood sample.

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise."

My bilirubin count was around 27 at the time of our meeting and needed to be a one.  So, I was admitted into the hospital and ended up staying for about two weeks.  I was in longer than expected because my doctor wanted to make sure the stint was working. I was released from the hospital the day before Christmas Eve.  It took about two weeks later for the tormented itching to cease completely.  I can't even begin to describe more in depth how traumatizing that stretch was for me.  It was so all-consuming I couldn't even focus on the big picture.  Like the fact I had a cancer with a low mortality rate.  And the fact my life was changed forever. 

At the time, I didn't even know about the breast cancer.  All I knew is that my annual was coming up and I felt a strong forboding that almost had me not scheduling the appointment at all. But because they'd had some issues the year before with my mamogram, it needed to be done.  I mean come on, surely, what are the odds of being hit by two cancers at the same time. It was just too much.  Couldn't happen.

Wrong.