I have somehow beaten the odds to have survived over 38 months after metastasis to my liver. I am going on 68 months. They were very detailed in the interview, and they had chose 15 patients at Northwestern in a national study. They are trying to codify the symptoms to help general practitioners better recognize the initial symptoms as this rare cancer is hard to find, and when they do finally diagnose it correctly, it is usually too late.
She was very excited at the end of the interview with some of the new symptoms I had outlined early in my illness. If I can help a patient avoid the malpractice I faced, it will be worth the hour and a half. She was shocked at the end of the interview when we were told to rate between 1-10 with 10 being very happy our mental attitude. I said endocrine cancer has been a blessing. The pain and discomfort can be unpleasant, but the slow nature of the disease has given me 9 years of not taking life for granted. I explained that I always enjoyed a challenge in my life, and the beauty of endocrine is that it slowly becomes more unpleasant, so each day when you wake up you enjoy the day almost in celebration fully knowing that next week or next month things will be worse. Sadly, there are no new drugs, treatments, or magic bullets which will save me, but I have been blessed to have the opportunity to be at a world class facility with full insurance which has given me 2.5 extra years. If the information I provided can help another patient to get that extra time, I want to stress it starts with hard physical work and a positive attitude. Cute grandchildren are a bonus.
She was very excited at the end of the interview with some of the new symptoms I had outlined early in my illness. If I can help a patient avoid the malpractice I faced, it will be worth the hour and a half. She was shocked at the end of the interview when we were told to rate between 1-10 with 10 being very happy our mental attitude. I said endocrine cancer has been a blessing. The pain and discomfort can be unpleasant, but the slow nature of the disease has given me 9 years of not taking life for granted. I explained that I always enjoyed a challenge in my life, and the beauty of endocrine is that it slowly becomes more unpleasant, so each day when you wake up you enjoy the day almost in celebration fully knowing that next week or next month things will be worse. Sadly, there are no new drugs, treatments, or magic bullets which will save me, but I have been blessed to have the opportunity to be at a world class facility with full insurance which has given me 2.5 extra years. If the information I provided can help another patient to get that extra time, I want to stress it starts with hard physical work and a positive attitude. Cute grandchildren are a bonus.