I have metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors that spread to my liver, lymph nodes, and bones by summer 2024. I received monthly injections, three liver surgeries, four courses of radiation, and 25 blood tests in the past year. Treatments caused hair loss, constant fatigue, joint stiffness, and mental and physical battering. I take multiple medications for treatment effects and other conditions. Neuroendocrine tumors are often hard to detect and can take five to seven years for diagnosis; pancreatic NETs differ from pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Annual incidence is about seven per 100,000 people.
I love my hair. It looks like a fancy dog's ears. My friend calls it "magic hair." Everyone I talked to said my hair was incredible. Strangers have compared me to multiple pro wrestlers, Brad Pitt, Kurt Cobain, and Jesus Christ. These are all incredible comps. People see the hair and feel compelled to tell me I remind them of a person famous for being handsome or the literal Lord and Savior.
So you can understand why it might be a front-of-mind concern for me now that I'm losing it. Ah. Well. I'd never heard of neuroendocrine cancer before doctors told me I had it. By the summer of 2024, the original tumor in my pancreas had spread to my liver, lymph nodes, and bones. "He has a massive tumor burden and impending liver failure and needs urgent intervention to prevent death," a doctor wrote.
In the last year I've had monthly shots, three liver surgeries, four courses of radiation, and 25 blood tests. There have been side effects: the hair, sure, but also constant fatigue and joint stiffness. The interventions have battered me mentally and physically. I take a cocktail of drugs for that (and for my cat allergy). I am living with neuroendocrine cancer. I am hopeful, even confident, that this will be true for a long time. Let me tell you a little about my new life.
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