- Drugs
- Faith
On Wednesday, April 25, 2012, I received a phone call forever changing my life. My doctor, with a shaky and emotional voice, called to explain he had the results back from a biopsy taken from my small intestine the week before. The diagnosis: a type of neuroendocrine cancer called carcinoid.
Two weeks later, while in surgery to resect my small intestine, the surgeon found the carcinoid had metastasized to my liver, scattering itself on both lobes. I am a single mother of two boys, aged 15 and 11. Sitting my sons down and explaining what was going on was one of the most difficult moments of my life.
I am also in recovery, for seven years, for substance abuse. I understand that life challenges are inevitable, but there NO WORDS to describe the fear and pain in my sons’ eyes and in their hearts when I told them my condition. This challenge was layered in a fear and uncertainty that I have never experienced in recovery or in my lifetime.
Carcinoid liver sections are inoperable and carcinoid does not respond to chemotherapy or radiation. My primary treatment is a once-a-month injection of Octreotide Unfortunately, Octreotide cannot destroy the cancer but it can possibly slow down the growth of disease.
Carcinoid affects the heart, gastrointestinal system, lungs and other major organs. This results in me needing to have many scans, blood tests and other routine medical tests. I find the stress of all of this unbearable in some moments but I use the tools I have been taught in recovery to push through. We have been working really hard to settle into a new normal. I am ready to embrace life again with strong intention, courage and focused healing.