What were my symptoms?

Next to, "How are you doing, really?" this is the question I get frequently from friends: What were your symptoms?

Well, you see, that's part of the challenge with pancreatic cancer. The symptoms are that of many, often benign conditions and are really quite common, especially for a woman of "my age". haha

My journey began last summer when I found a mass on my thyroid. I was also having some GI issues, but have battled those most of my life. I was informed by my Primary Care Physician there is a strong correlation between Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Celiac. You can also throw in the fact that my mother had Hashimoto's & Ulcerative Colitis and I was in the perfect storm to follow in her footsteps. Never in a million years did pancreatic adenocarcinoma appear on anyones radar.

Last summer I went through an EGD and colonoscopy. My wonderful Gastroenterologist found an ulcer and a precancerous polyp in my sigmoid colon. I was thankful I had a colonoscopy at the age of 48 instead of 50, thinking I just dodged the bullet of colon cancer. However, I was still having symptoms. It was attributed to gluten sensitivity/celiac and an allergy to wheat and dairy. I changed my diet significantly and moved on with my life. However, hindsight being 20/20, I was still having symptoms, but chalked them up to being a woman of "my age". At least that's what one of the 8 Doctors that I saw last fall said it was. Yes, I saw 8 different physicians/MDs trying to figure out what was going on with my body.

My biggest complaint was fatigue. Not your ordinary, "I'm tired because I work and travel so much.". It was your, "I'm tired to the bone and can't think of anything but sleep!" My sister kept telling me to suck it up and it was just part of having a thyroid condition, but I knew my body and I knew I wasn't supposed to feel that tired. I kept pressing my PCP, but never would we have thought it was pancreatic cancer.

On top of the fatigue, I had an unusual increase in burping, gas and feeling bloated. Of course, I thought it was just due to the change in my diet. I was eating more of a vegan diet, so naturally what goes with that? Gas.

Then in January, the biggest change occured and it really scared me. I had a change in my stool. I know, NOT the sort of thing that you want to talk about. It's not pretty, but this cancer is not pretty either. I'm hoping to help educate others so that they don't have to take this journey. So, back to my poop. :) There was a noticable change. First, it was floating. I didn't pay much attention to it until it changed color. Yep, the color matters. In late January, my stool was floating and it was an ash gray in color. I immediately called my Gastros office and spoke with the nurse. She knew something was up, but didn't seem to think of it as an emergency. The soonest I could get in to see my Gastro was on 2/21/13. I thought, "Cool. If they thought it was that big of a deal, Laszlo would see me this week." I continued on about my business and never thought I had as big of a challenge ahead of me as I do now.

I googled my symptoms and yes, pancreatic cancer came up, but I never thought that would be me. I mean, I don't fit any of the risk factors. Which are:
Age-average age at diagnosis 70
Gender-Male...men are 30% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than women
Race-African Americans are more likely to develop it than caucasians
Smoking-accounts for 20% of pancreatic cancer cases
Obesity
Diabetes
Chronic pancreatitis

So, you see, they don't really know why I developed pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
I'm going for genetic testing at Vanderbilt and have since learned of several family members who have died from GI cancers. So, if I were a betting girl, I bet I have a gene that predisposed me to this bitch of a cancer.

My final thought on this is: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!! Keep pushing until you get resolution.

Goodnight & breathe in the oxygen.