Month: March 2016

Met my Kaiser oncologist for the first time today.  Like him a lot; good thing, he will be our coach through this battle.  Compassionate but frank, he said my prognosis isn’t good (“not the kind of cancer you want to get”).   Officially esophageal junction cancer, the giant question now is whether the fluid drained from my chest cavity last Friday will show cancer.  If so, I’m labeled Stage 4.  If not, well you can see Stage 4 from here.  Next steps are plumbing me for a chemo port, a CT scan of my chest and coming to terms with what this all means.  And so we wait …

Another appointment, this time with a pulmonologist.  Doctors had seen something on my CT scan during diagnostic week they wanted to check out.  Turns out I had liquid in my chest cavity, impinging on the space my lung wanted to occupy.  She drilled a hole in my back and Shop-Vac’d a Big Gulp worth of liquid (1.1 L) from me.  Well, it was more refined than that but it’s my story.  A chest x-ray to ensure the procedure hadn’t punctured my lung and we headed home.  The fluid (looked like an nice IPA) will be sent for analysis, expect results next week.  I feel better already.

Today I had an EGD (upper endoscopy) and after six months of escalating G.I. issues we finally have root cause — esophageal junction cancer. Biopsies were taken, but the gastroenterologist that did the exam told us it was almost certainly cancer.  How do we share this news with our children, parents, extended family and friends?  All we can do is wait for the lab results and pray.

I have been blessed beyond measure my whole life.  My wife as my best friend, three awesome children and their equally awesome spouses, two perfect grandchildren, a loving, supportive, extended family, an interesting, fulfilling career doing what I enjoy and friends from all aspects of my life experience.   Seeing the trials some folks have endured, I  would sometimes ponder how I would respond to such a test.  I wonder no more, my turn is now.

After months of declining health, and a week of TLA (three letter acronym) diagnostics I’ve recently learned I have cancer.  CANCER.  Worst case scenario.  I’m an engineer and kind of contrarian guy so want to tell my story my way, not using some cookie cutter health site. This blog will be my journal to share my cancer journey with family and friends.
Be kind.