My Dad's Story

by Cathy Weeks

Dad's Endoscopy

This is the endoscopy in which my father's cancer was diagnosed.

The first endoscopy (not shown) was performed on October 26th, 1995. The doctor made an initial diagnosis of cancer; however the biopsy results came back on October 30th, 1995 and were, surprisingly enough, NEGATIVE.

The doctor decided to wait two weeks, and heal the ulcers (both in the stomach and esophagus) to reduce the swelling, before doing another endoscopy (shown below) and a "deeper" and more accurate biopsy.

In the time between the two endoscopies, Dad was put on powerful antacids and acid-blockers (he had been unresponsive to the usual antibiotic therapy for ulcers, which is why the endoscopy was done in the first place). His diet was limited to foods with low acid-content (no tomatoes, lemonade or orange juice), and was removed from all medications, including his large daily doses of Aspirin and Ibuprofin which he had been taking for years to control headaches and a mild case of Fibromyalgia, an arthritis-like disease. Ironically, both his headaches and joint pain went away. It seems the painkiller was probably causing his pain. In addition to his headaches going away, his ulcers healed amazingly quickly. Fortunately, Dad has always been a fast healer.

The second endoscopy/biopsy (shown below) was performed on November 9th, 1995, and the results came back on November 13th, 1995. This time the pathology reports stated that poorly-differentiated signet cells had been found. The diagnosis: Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagus. The tumor was measured at 1.5 centimeters in diameter.

Image 1: (Top Left) This image was taken at the very base of the esophagus. The red, swollen area along the left side and top of the passage is the Barrett's Esophagus, a condition in which the cells of the Esophagus start changing to the type of cell that lines the stomach. This is a pre-cancerous condition. The white and purple gooey stuff is the still-unhealed esophageal ulcer. The tumor is the white bulged-out area along the bottom right of the passage. Image 5 shows the tumor from a better angle.

Image 2: (Top Right) This image shows the top and inside of Dad's stomach. As you can see the tissue is pink and healthy. There is no sign of the ulcers that had been there only 2 weeks earlier.

Image 3: (Bottom Left) This image shows the entrance to Dad's intestines, at the bottom of the stomach. Again, the area is pink and healthy.

Image 5: (Bottom Right) Another view of the Barrett's Esophagus, the ulcer and the tumor. This one was taken slightly above and to one side of the first image. The tumor is the blackish-purple area along the top and right side of the passage. Notice the irregular borders?

Diagram: (Right side of image) This gives a minimal explanation of the images at left (notice they are numbered and color coded), and above the explanations is a diagram of the upper digestive tract. The tiny color-coded squares on the diagram denote where the images at left were taken.

By the way, this photo (along with the procedure, done under general anethesia) costs around $1800.00. Fortunately insurance covered it.

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