Esophageal Cancer From Reflux - Very Worried

[Carys]

Eeeeek, nasty to have picked that up in hospital Darkside, during your stay there - it sounds really unpleasant and I hope that nobody else in your house has got it from you ?! I hope that if you need to move to the second antibiotics they sort it out pronto. Thanks for adding the update, its always interesting to know how people are getting on.



This thread makes me sad, and is a cautionary tale for other HA sufferers; It was your HA that led to testing and biopsies and all sorts of cameras here and there. By chance a benign tiny thing found (that isn't uncommon and apparently wasn't the cause of the symptoms you had anyway). You went through surgery and then had a horrible and frightening period of blood loss (and a further GA and cauterisation) and anaemia. Then in the hospital got CDiff and now need further treatment. I am presuming you picked it up from the environment and your immunity was low ? HA can lead to unneccessary treatment, surgeries and illnesses, as this thread shows. Real physical problems and illness, that needed not happen. Sometimes you go looking too hard and doctors will start taking action. Hospital stays, surgeries and interventions bring with them their own risks - which should not be taken lightly. Feel free to answer me with alternative thoughts Darkside, if you think my evaluation isn't fair or accurate.



I don't know where you are placed now regarding your HA ? Do you think that you have got to the point where you have faced so many things over the last few weeks that some of your fear has been removed, that this could be a turning point? Everything is benign, you've survived (and will this Cdiff too) and you now need the right help for your HA.

[pulisa]

Great post, Carys. The dangers of chasing a diagnosis aided and abetted by over zealous doctors. I hope that you soon get to grips with the CDiff and maybe something beneficial will come of this in terms of you being able to face up to and manage your HA. I really hope so.

[WiseMonkey]

Eeeeek, nasty to have picked that up in hospital Darkside, during your stay there - it sounds really unpleasant and I hope that nobody else in your house has got it from you ?! I hope that if you need to move to the second antibiotics they sort it out pronto. Thanks for adding the update, its always interesting to know how people are getting on.



This thread makes me sad, and is a cautionary tale for other HA sufferers; It was your HA that led to testing and biopsies and all sorts of cameras here and there. By chance a benign tiny thing found (that isn't uncommon and apparently wasn't the cause of the symptoms you had anyway). You went through surgery and then had a horrible and frightening period of blood loss (and a further GA and cauterisation) and anaemia. Then in the hospital got CDiff and now need further treatment. I am presuming you picked it up from the environment and your immunity was low ? HA can lead to unneccessary treatment, surgeries and illnesses, as this thread shows. Real physical problems and illness, that needed not happen. Sometimes you go looking too hard and doctors will start taking action. Hospital stays, surgeries and interventions bring with them their own risks - which should not be taken lightly. Feel free to answer me with alternative thoughts Darkside, if you think my evaluation isn't fair or accurate.



I don't know where you are placed now regarding your HA ? Do you think that you have got to the point where you have faced so many things over the last few weeks that some of your fear has been removed, that this could be a turning point? Everything is benign, you've survived (and will this Cdiff too) and you now need the right help for your HA.

My thoughts exactly, summed up well

[Carys]

Ta you twos. This ectopic pancreas thingy had been there his whole life, no doubt, and most people have absolutely no symptoms. They are found incidentally. This isn't addressed to Darkside, but a general comment really; invasive procedures, scans, cameras here and there, surgery, testing and checking with biopsies, hospital visits and stays carry their own risk. This obviously shows here quite dramatically (and I am genuinely sorry you have had a rough ride on this Darkside), but, I think people forget that this fact when choosing to follow their HA demon. If you need things done, then yeah, of course they are important, but think carefully about them before having them done



Summed up even better by Pulisa....

The dangers of chasing a diagnosis aided and abetted by over zealous doctors

[Annaboodle]

[QUOTE=Carys;1791757]Ta you twos. This ectopic pancreas thingy had been there his whole life, no doubt, and most people have absolutely no symptoms. They are found incidentally. This isn't addressed to Darkside, but a general comment really; invasive procedures, scans, cameras here and there, surgery, testing and checking with biopsies, hospital visits and stays carry their own risk. This obviously shows here quite dramatically (and I am genuinely sorry you have had a rough ride on this Darkside), but, I think people forget that this fact when choosing to follow their HA demon. If you need things done, then yeah, of course they are important, but think carefully about them before having them done


When you start having cameras shoved up and down you they always find something. It's almost always something benign and often something you could just have lived in happy ignorance with. There are minor things "wrong" with all of us if you look hard enough, but where does it end if you're determined to get every perceived symptom you ever have investigated to death until you get a diagnosis? Living longer really isn't worth it if you are having so many investigative procedures that you might as well take up residence in a medical ward hard-wired to monitors and machines that register and check for every condition under the sun. It's no life worth living anyway.

[Carys]

Annaboodle, a really valuable perspective! Absolutely agree.

[darkside4k]

I agree if I would not have had the EGD I would not have seen the tumor. It was only known to be ectopic pancreas after extraction. That could not be determined from EGD alone so there was no choice really unfortunately once it had been seen. For all we knew at the time it could have been a malignant GIST. Unfortunately I was one of the few who have significant bleeding have an endoscopic resection. :/ ... I agree though it is a lesson in that pushing for more tests (especially fairly invasive ones) can lead you to some places you don't want to go, especially if you have complications.

Nobody else in my house has gotten CDiff...I have been sticking to a separate bathroom. Even my CDiff status itself is confusing to me. My test was antigen positive but toxin negative so I am technically "indeterminate" but my doctor started me on antibiotics anyways. There are some strains of CDiff that aren't symptomatic or are under control by your body and don't release the toxins. It also depends on what test they used to detect the toxins. I posted on a Cdiff forum recently after my diagnosis and they seemed to be surprise I was treated with that test result and said the modern toxin tests are much more accurate than even 10 years ago.

I finished my first round of antibiotics and haven't started the second yet. My stool has been formed... but I have been going more than usual (2 times today) and have been gassy and crampy. It's unclear if I have some other GI upset or CDiff. I have an appointment with my GI doctor on Wednesday. I was attempting to wait to give my symptoms a few days to see if they start improving on their own since they are fairly mild at this time and not your typical CDiff case of 5-6 times a day watery diarrhea.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's some nasty shit...literally

Glad to hear you are getting on the mend though.

How is your anxiety? Has it been really bad with all this going on, taken a back seat or have you just felt too ill to even be anxious?

Apart from all this, where are you going with your HA from now?

[tan235]

If your stool is formed C diff is gone, that's what my Dr told me. Best of Luck Darkside .... x

[ChocolateButton]

Sorry to hear of your CDiff troubles Darkside, but pleased that you are coming out of the bad times and hopefully recovering to a good level. Best wishes. x