My first post, welcome to my world of the big "C"

Well, here it is, my first posting! The purpose of this blog is so that I can keep everyone up to date on my progress as I go through this journey. If you haven't heard by now, this past August I was diagnosed with Stage IV cholangiocarcinoma, otherwise known as cancer of the common bile duct. Yeah, it was a complete shock to me as well. I had been feeling crappy for about a week and kept telling myself "if I don't feel better tomorrow I'll call the doctor." Well, I would feel better in the morning, but by night I would feel bad again. I finally went to the doctor and told him that if I could just get over the dizzyness I would start feeling better. I didn't. The next day I was supposed to go out with my sister to Weight Watchers and I told her I couldn't go. Naturally she thought I was trying to sneak out of it, so she came over to yell at me. Instead of Weight Watchers we wound up in the ER. I'll do anything to keep from having to weigh in! ;-) Many scans, blood tests, and a biopsy later I found out I had cancer. And not just any cancer. My cancer is apparently very rare, only 1 out of 150-200,000 people get it. I prefer not to call it rare, I prefer the terms designer cancer, or exotic! The unfortunate thing is that by the time people find out they have it it is usually too late, which is true in my case as well. The cancer had already metastasized to the liver and lymph nodes. It is not operable and it is not curable, so we move on and pray for whatever God decides is right for me. I am receiving chemotherapy once a week with the hope that this will shrink or at least slow the growth of the cancer and keep me around as long as possible. I certainly have not given up, but I need to focus on the day to day, taking care of my son, making sure his future is secure no matter what, give me a quality of life that is worth it, oh, and I still work for a living! Chemo isn't too terribly bad, no picnic, that's for sure, but at least I still have my hair! I give thanks every day for the blessings I continue to receive. Every day is another day I have with my son and the rest of my family. I am so blessed by the friends and neighbors who have all pitched in to do everything from walking my dog, building a fence, even a simple hug and prayers. Every day I am here means that I too am a cancer survivor. Despite the statistics I don't plan on checking out anytime soon! Keep checking back in, I will post whenever I have news, scan results, etc and let you all know how things are going. Meanwhile, keep the prayers coming!

Barb

Cancer is a word, not a sentence (phrase borrowed from a friend!)