The news
I have reached out to many of my friends and family with the news, but to tell everyone while processing difficult news has been hard. The bottom line is that I have been diagnosed with locally advanced liver cancer, and I am starting chemotherapy and immunotherapy this week. I expect to go through about 12-24 weeks of treatment in the hope to shrink the 7cm tumor on my liver, and either eliminate it or have surgery to remove it.
How we got here
In late July, I began to feel an uncomfortable pressure on my right side but though it might be a pulled muscle from karate practice. But it would not go away. During a routine visit with my primary care doctor, he scheduled an ultrasound on 8/4 to investigate. This confirmed the presence tumor, which was again confirmed with a CT scan on 8/11. After a referral from Dr. O’Neil to Oncologist Dr. Miriovsky, I had a biopsy on 8/17 and full body PET Scan on 8/23, with a few blood tests in-between.
The bad news was a diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma in my liver and adjacent lymph node. The good news: liver function is acting normal, blood work looks good, and the PET scan shows that it has not spread anywhere else in my body so far. I am not losing weight, and I am not experiencing extra fatigue. I do get some discomfort in my side, usually just some pressure, but occasionally mild pain. In fact, after a year of eating better and practicing Karate, I am in better shape then I have been in 20 years, and my doctor even took me off my cholesterol meds! Except for, well, cancer.