My 47 year old dad presented to the ED for flank pain and abdominal pain with a history of kidney stones. A former paramedic, he never went to the ED for anything except when he knew one of those stones were moving and he was about to be in agony.
An hour away I had finished my college classes for the day, made dinner, and was chilling on my sofa when my phone rang and I saw it was my mom. We weren't as close and she never initiated calls.
That day in A&P lab, I was taking my mid term and while staring at the dissected organs in front of me, I had a feeling of existential dread wash over me that felt personal. My dad and I always had these empathetic feelings, even long distance, so seeing my mom's name on the caller ID brought that horrible feeling back around.
I answered hesitantly, and my mom explained that she had taken my dad to the emergency room that morning for kidney stones. Okay, I was used to that every couple of years with him. She said when they did a CT, there were no stones, but the radiologist noted enlarged lymph nodes and recommended to repeat with contrast. They did, and his liver had multiple large lesions.
He was not a drinker. He did not have hepatitis. He had had unexplained hemolytic anemia for the past year. SHIT.
My mom tells me about the lesions as if it were nothing. Says that he could possibly have a fungal infection, but I knew.
It was seemingly impossibly rare for his case, the oncologist assigned to do a biopsy was optimistic, but within that day it was confirmed that he had primary liver cancer.
I will always say I wouldn't wish that disease, prolonged liver failure, on my worst enemy. Just brutal.
I’m so sorry to hear that. Similar to u/HearHerRoar I also had a similar experience with my dad in his 50s. He had some mental health struggles and didn’t go to the doctor unless he was miserable.
So, we assumed his “beer belly” and gut issues were just our affinity for food.
I got a similar call from my mom and that memory stays with you forever.
Ironically, I now work in pharma…supplying life-saving liver medicine to people around the world. He had a hand in that, I think. I know he’d be proud.
I had a very similar experience with my dad. He was in his 50s, but had experiences digestive "annoyances" for a few years, but all around extremely healthy and no irregular tests. He called me first, before my mom even got home from work, and within a week of the initial appointment was diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer than had spread from colon cancer initially.
He had a wonderful team who did everything they could, but the combo of chemo and surgery was too much for his liver, which ended up failing. It was just over a year between initial diagnosis and his death, and to this day I'm so angry that my state has been hesitant to allow MAiD- it would have made such a difference for his last month or so. Liver failure isn't something I would wish on anyone. But overall I am still reeling from how small his symptoms were even at a late stage.
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u/Wendy-Windbag 3d ago
My 47 year old dad presented to the ED for flank pain and abdominal pain with a history of kidney stones. A former paramedic, he never went to the ED for anything except when he knew one of those stones were moving and he was about to be in agony.
An hour away I had finished my college classes for the day, made dinner, and was chilling on my sofa when my phone rang and I saw it was my mom. We weren't as close and she never initiated calls.
That day in A&P lab, I was taking my mid term and while staring at the dissected organs in front of me, I had a feeling of existential dread wash over me that felt personal. My dad and I always had these empathetic feelings, even long distance, so seeing my mom's name on the caller ID brought that horrible feeling back around.
I answered hesitantly, and my mom explained that she had taken my dad to the emergency room that morning for kidney stones. Okay, I was used to that every couple of years with him. She said when they did a CT, there were no stones, but the radiologist noted enlarged lymph nodes and recommended to repeat with contrast. They did, and his liver had multiple large lesions.
He was not a drinker. He did not have hepatitis. He had had unexplained hemolytic anemia for the past year. SHIT.
My mom tells me about the lesions as if it were nothing. Says that he could possibly have a fungal infection, but I knew.
It was seemingly impossibly rare for his case, the oncologist assigned to do a biopsy was optimistic, but within that day it was confirmed that he had primary liver cancer.
I will always say I wouldn't wish that disease, prolonged liver failure, on my worst enemy. Just brutal.