I finished work, made dinner, got ready for bed, and went to sleep. All through the night, I could feel this dull ache. The next day, I messaged one of the nurses I work with and asked her if she had ever had appendicitis. She told me to get to the ER stat! So, me being the nurse that I am, I continued to procrastinate, and I texted my daughter and literally said…”if you are not busy after work, do you think you could drive me to the ER?” Guess who showed up within 30 minutes berating me for knowing better…”Mom! You are a nurse…you should have known better!!” Off to the ER, we went. I was seen by the doctor, had a CT and blood work and was transported to observation immediately.
In the wee hours of the morning, I was taken to the operating room to have my appendix removed. I was not told that I had cancer until I went for my follow-up visit with the surgeon. I was diagnosed with low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN). At that point, I was given two options…do nothing, or get better margins. I opted for better margins and to have my Ilium and part of my small intestine removed. After 3 operations (the last one being to repair a hernia which happened after the first two operations), I have adapted to “the new me” and my new life. I feel fortunate that things had not been worse. So much more could have gone wrong. My CT scans have been negative. Since then, I pray that I remain cancer-free.
The moral of the story…if you feel or see changes…do not wait…get checked immediately!