Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Back to work! Early mornings, YUCK!

I returned to work full-time this past Monday. I've done ok, but right now have a massive belly ache because I think I over did it today. But I got a lot done. :)

My doctor's office is working with my insurance company to get me set up to take the Sandostatin shots. The protocol is that I will give myself shots twice a day for two weeks. I had to practice last Friday on myself. It wasn't bad, especially since I did it in my belly and it's in large part, numb from the surgery.

After the two weeks are up, and if I'm showing improvement on my symptoms, I'll start getting the once-monthly shots from the doctor's office. I'm glad to get moving on this.

I still have two open wounds along the suture line. One is nearly healed up, while the other is still very deep, but narrow. I have an appointment with my surgeon at the end of the month, but I'll be greatly improved by then. No more infection though. It's a healthy, although holely belly.

I have been put into contact with a local carcinoid support group and am looking forward to participating with others like myself. Speaking of which, it was just in the news about Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, having a hormal problem that he was going to take care of with diet, and that struck a chord. As I read down through the article, it turns out that he also has a neuroendocrine tumor (NET), which is what my carcinoid is. His is just a different flavor than mine, an islet cell pancreatic NET. I couldn't say what his prognosis is, since he has said virtually nothing more than this. That they aren't jumping on surgical treatments or chemical/radiologic treatments may be a good sign that his isn't a particularly bad condition.

In my case, the "watch and wait" approach was as valid as trying surgical removal, which didn't work out for me. Now I'm in that "watch and wait" with the Sandostatin hormonal shots. These are intended to stop the tumors from producing the serotonin hormone, which causes mischief inside my body.

2 comments:

Nana said...

colleen, now you can have little dots on your body like Kevin, Whit, Nathan and Linds all have from all the needles they got from giving plasma. We can play connect the dots! :)

Whitney R said...

We don't want any mischief in your body.

And, we like healthy bellies :)

Do you think that since you and the Apple guy have something in common that he'd give you as many Ipods as you want? If so, think you can send a green 16 gig my way?