Colette Morrison
In 1995 following several years of episodic attacks of severe abdominal pain and vomiting, I was surgically diagnosed with small bowel carcinoid tumors. I had a bowel resection at that time and was diagnosed by pathology that also showed positive lymph nodes in 3 out of 10 nodes. A second bowel obstruction six months later required another surgical reduction.
I developed the carcinoid syndrome two years later with flushing and diarrhea and the appearance of suspicious findings in my liver. Over the next five years I had to be treated on a daily basis for abdominal infection caused by a left over penrose drain tubing that was left in my abdomen. This required over fourteen different outpatient and surgical procedures over that five year period as well as multiple antibiotic therapies.
I was started on sandostatin injections in 1997, three years after my initial diagnosis. I was also started on BCG orally once a month. This is a form of chemotherapy that boosts the immune system to help reduce tumor growth. I had a porta catheter inserted in my chest during one of my surgeries as my hand veins became impossible to use for intravenous therapies.
The tumor growth in my liver has been slow and only increased in size over the past year or so. My syndrome has increased considerably with flushing, diarrhea,. heart palpitations and wheezing. Fatigue has been my biggest complaint. I am a physiotherapist and had to go on long term disability in 1999 because I was unable to work on a consistent basis. Presently I take sandostatin LAR 60 every 21 days, as well as the BCG once monthly. I take oral hydromorph for abdominal pain twice daily and rescue shots of sandostatin when necessary.
I went to London, Ontario five months ago and met with doctors there. They sent their recommendations for me to have chemoembolization and I am following up on their recommendations with a specialist in Halifax, Nova Scotia who will do the first Lipiodol assay in early January.
November 2007 by Colette Morrison
Nova Scotia
Midgut Tumour