Our Shocking Diagnosis

    On September 27, 2011 our mom, Rialeen, was diagnosed with Pancreatic Endocrine Neoplasm Cancer, the tumor itself is known as an Islet Cell Tumor of the Pancreas. We will shorten it to Pancreatic Cancer. This type of cancer is very rare, and there is not a whole lot of information about this type of pancreatic cancer.

     A few weeks earlier Rialeen noticed a lump up by the left side of her rib cage on her stomach. She had been working out a lot and she was hoping it was her abs getting stronger, but she thought it was weird that it was only on one side and not the other. Dad thought she should get it checked out, but mom just thought he worried too much, like he always does, and that it would go away. Meanwhile, my mom was noticing a decrease in her energy level as she continued to exercise. She went on a walk to my grandma's and back to our house, 4 miles round trip, and she was totally exhausted. She went on a 10 mile bike ride with Jade, and when we were almost done, she commented on how winded she was. It was weird because she always kicks Jade's butt and makes her winded. She was also trying to prepare to hike the back side of Timp with the youth in our ward. The week they were supposed to go it rained out and so they rescheduled for the next week, Sept. 23. A couple days before the 23rd my dad returned back from hunting. Mom told him she was still nervous about the hike. He told her she could not go and she had to go to the doctor. So she made an appointment for Friday the 23rd. She went to the doctor and they ran some blood tests. On Monday they called and told her that her results came back and she had an H-pylori bacteria that causes ulcers in her stomach. Mom thought "this is good news, nothing serious is wrong." The doctor also said he wanted to do an ultrasound to check the lump just to make sure. Mom and dad went to the doctors office the next day, September 27, to have the ultrasound done to check her lump. While performing the ultrasound the doctor noticed abnormalities about the lumps in her stomach. He asked if they would have a CT Scan performed. After the CT Scan was done, they went back to the doctors office where their doctor informed them that mom has pancreatic cancer that has metastasized into her liver. She currently has a tumor on the tail end of her pancreas, and multiple tumors on her liver: one the size of a softball, a tennis ball, two the size of golf balls, and other smaller ones.

Mom and dad met with two oncologists who said that her type of pancreatic cancer is neither curable nor operable. It is not curable because this particular type of cancer does not respond to chemo or radiation very well. It is not operable because the pancreatic tumor is very close to a major artery. Doctor Rich said that he would present her case to a board of doctors to determine what type of treatment they are going to perform to "make her comfortable to ensure quality of life."