Happy New Year!

New Year's Day - 2014 (Wednesday)

I'm sure this will be an extra-ordinary year.  The past 2 days sure have been different than my normal daily life!  At noon on Monday I had a CT scan of my stomach area--within 15 minutes after it was completed my doctor's office was calling me to say come in for a consultation immediately--and bring my husband.  It's never good when they say I need to bring John with me.

John and I got to Jeanne's office about 1. Jeanne explained that a large tumor was on my pancreas.  By large, it is approximately 2" by 2" (and this is on an organ that is just 6 inches long itself).  I also had two kidney stones that needed to be removed as soon as possible. 

Our discussion revolved around the pancreas, it's location, etc.  I really didn't know much about the pancreas until Monday afternoon....but I'm learning quickly.  The main function of the pancreas is to help the stomach digest food.  It is located just behind the stomach. When it is not working properly a person tends to loose weight and have diarrhea because of poorly absorbed food. 

Jeanne indicated this was an urgent situation--she made appointments for the next two hours for me with other doctors.  The first thing to do she said was get the kidney stones taken care of (I will need properly functioning kidneys throughout this).  Then at 3 I was to go to Dr. Copur (pronounced Cho-pur), the head of the Oncology department. 

My appointment with the Urologist (kidney specialist) was right away.  We scheduled a procedure for the next morning to put in two stents and remove the larger stone. 

Seeing Dr. Copur was interesting--he had the same sense of urgency that Jeanne did.  Long story short, I am going to University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) tomorrow (Thursday) to see a Dr. Quan Ly (pronounced Lee)about a biopsy and possible treatments. Dr. Copur says she is the best there in Omaha.