Well, my winter in Florida won't be happening. The ultrasound showed that there is a 3.5 cm cyst in my pancreas and that is not good at all. It could be benign but it also might not be. My doctor is scheduling an MRI which he says will likely but not definitely show what kind of cyst it is. From what I read on the internet, there is no definite way of knowing unless you have surgery to remove it and the surgery is pretty awful. I'm thinking I might be too old to tolerate the surgery so I might just have to have regular ultrasounds to keep an eye on it. No matter what, this isn't a good thing for me.
I read up on the internet as much as I could that didn't scare me and saw that the aftereffects of surgery were pretty awful, too. They remove the pancreas or part of it, the gall bladder, and sometimes part of the stomach. It just sounds so unpleasant and painful. Apparently, more and more of these cysts are being found because so many people are having abdominal ultrasounds for other ailments. In my case, it was to look for enlarged lymph glands and spleen, all of which were perfectly fine.
From what I read, these cysts can cause unbearable pain if they begin to irritate you but I have no pain at all right now. My only symptoms that could be caused by the cyst are a decreased appetite and slight loss of weight. That is so unusual for me that it really is a huge symptom.
Something I can't understand is why I'm not more worried than I am. Am I blocking reality? I know what the outcome of this could be and yet I'm relatively calm. It's as though everything is out of my hands and I'm just along for the ride. Maybe the fear will hit later.
No comments:
Post a Comment