About Me
- Pennie
- I am a colon cancer survivor of 15 years. I too am a duodenal cancer survivor of 3 years and I have a passion to help those who suffer with cancer. I am a Christian, wife and mother. Donald and I have been married for 30 plus wonderful years. We shared our love for each other on May 21, 1982. We have two handsome young sons, Ray and Daniel. Our lives changed on May 18, 2008 at 6:30 am when our son Daniel earned his Angel Wings.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Update on My Journey
Today I went for my blood work to see if my iron is staying where it needs to be. Please be in prayer for me on Monday I will be going for my first Colonoscopy and upper EDG since my surgery in 2010. These test is to make sure there is no cancer laying around hidden from the CT and MRI Scans. I am anxious and so ready to get this over with. I spoke with Dr. Blume yesterday so I could let him know my family history before he does the test. He said I am a little complicated!! LOL that is an understate. So please lift me up in your prayers.
Thanks,
Pennie
Thanks,
Pennie
Friday, October 11, 2013
I'm Still Living Life One Day At A Time!!
I have had a great summer. God blessed us with a wonderful garden and flowers to galore. The most joyous part of this summer was working side by side with my wonderful husband. I cannot thank God enough for giving me a strong loving husband who is always my best friend for better or worse.
A ministry has begun with the start of dirt, seed and water. The Lord opened the door for me to be able to travel to Oneonta two days a week to deliver fresh vegetables to the elderly at a very low cost. Yes I know we could have made a lot more money but what is money??? A dollar here and a dollar there paid for us to have a great vacation doing just what we love, driving, eating, looking in Antique shops, and making memories.
How am I feeling now after surgery in 2010? I am doing great. I live each day to the fullest and on the few bad days I just remember to rest and I know tomorrow will be better. The end of September I went back for my 3 month check up with the oncologist and he was so pleased that I was doing so well. When the lab work came back to my surprise my iron level was at 49 and my b12 was low as well. So I went back to receive an iron treatment and a b12 shot. I am highly allergic to an iron infusion so we did the iron push. I did not have a reaction to it so I will return this Monday for one more treatment.
I have a one day trip planned on Tuesday to go to Tennessee with a Red Hat lady group. I am so looking forward to that trip. I also joined a Rose Garden Club this year and I am having a blast. We have been on few trips this spring and summer. I helped with the Fair Booth this September and we entered a lot of our produce, flowers, crocheted doilies and Donald's hand made cross along with a shadow box. We took home 7 blue, 4 second place and 3 third place ribbons. Our fall garden is well underway and we hope to be able to help out folks with some fresh veggies around November hopefully until January.
I had a major scare early in the summer. We thought the cancer might be making a comeback, Praise God it was not. I told Dr. Pineda that I knew my chances of living to be in my 60's was slim but while I am here I am going to keep running and enjoying life. He said you have the best outlook of any cancer patient I have ever had, except for my sweet mama. Who knew that he would be my mother's doctor and then years later mine. My motto is don't think of what you can't do but do the things that you can and enjoy it.
I hope you have had a great summer and I hope you have a great winter no matter how cold it gets let the Son Shine in and out of you.
God Bless,
Pennie
A ministry has begun with the start of dirt, seed and water. The Lord opened the door for me to be able to travel to Oneonta two days a week to deliver fresh vegetables to the elderly at a very low cost. Yes I know we could have made a lot more money but what is money??? A dollar here and a dollar there paid for us to have a great vacation doing just what we love, driving, eating, looking in Antique shops, and making memories.
How am I feeling now after surgery in 2010? I am doing great. I live each day to the fullest and on the few bad days I just remember to rest and I know tomorrow will be better. The end of September I went back for my 3 month check up with the oncologist and he was so pleased that I was doing so well. When the lab work came back to my surprise my iron level was at 49 and my b12 was low as well. So I went back to receive an iron treatment and a b12 shot. I am highly allergic to an iron infusion so we did the iron push. I did not have a reaction to it so I will return this Monday for one more treatment.
I have a one day trip planned on Tuesday to go to Tennessee with a Red Hat lady group. I am so looking forward to that trip. I also joined a Rose Garden Club this year and I am having a blast. We have been on few trips this spring and summer. I helped with the Fair Booth this September and we entered a lot of our produce, flowers, crocheted doilies and Donald's hand made cross along with a shadow box. We took home 7 blue, 4 second place and 3 third place ribbons. Our fall garden is well underway and we hope to be able to help out folks with some fresh veggies around November hopefully until January.
I had a major scare early in the summer. We thought the cancer might be making a comeback, Praise God it was not. I told Dr. Pineda that I knew my chances of living to be in my 60's was slim but while I am here I am going to keep running and enjoying life. He said you have the best outlook of any cancer patient I have ever had, except for my sweet mama. Who knew that he would be my mother's doctor and then years later mine. My motto is don't think of what you can't do but do the things that you can and enjoy it.
I hope you have had a great summer and I hope you have a great winter no matter how cold it gets let the Son Shine in and out of you.
God Bless,
Pennie
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Duodenal Cancer, What is it and where is it?
This disease is very rare, most people have no idea where their duodenum is and or what it does. Living with this type of cancer is very hard. The duodenum is attached to the pancreas and small bowel, it is a major organ that you cannot live without. The surgery to remove the middle section of the duodenum sometimes is found to late to remove the tumor because it invades blood vessels and wraps around them to suck the life out of your body. Research on how to treat this cancer is very little so that leaves us in the open field to try and figure out what roads do we take. If the cancer returns on the small amount of duodenum there is no way to remove it by surgery. Currently we have no chemotherapy or radiation to kill the cells out. I am very blessed to have found a yahoo e-group who are in the same boat as me. We share what we have learned, what foods bring on the horrible bout of pain after eating, and the everyday hell we live with. When people hear our stories they say oh you look so good. The outside does look good, it is the inside that is sick and tormented with waves of pain, nausea, and it drains our energy to where we have to stay in bed or rest in the recliner. Our lives have changed so much and my journey is to help others who are going through a cancer diagnoses. I hope you read this and let me know what your thoughts are.
Thanks,
Pennie Bickerstaff
Duodenal cancer is a cancer in the beginning section of the small intestine. It is relatively rare compared to gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. Its histology is usually adenocarcinoma. Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), Gardner Syndrome, Lynch Syndrome, Muir-Torre syndrome, Celiac sprue, Puetz-Jeghers, Crohn's Disease and Juvenile Polyposis Syndrome are risk factors for developing this cancer.[1]
The duodenum is the first part of the small intestine. It is located between the stomach and the jejunum. After foods combine with stomach acid, they descend into the duodenum where they mix with bile from the gall bladder and digestive juices from the pancreas.
Duodenal Cancer is a rare tumor that occurs less than 1% compare to other cancers. This tumor affects the duodenum periampullary regions or the ampullary. Many of the Duodenal Cancer could be easily found at an early stage. This is because when the tumor occurs in the body then they could be easily noticed by the lymph nodes and adjacent structures.
EarlierDuodenal Cancer could be easily found out by the endoscopy without identifying the symptoms of the disease. A new type of cancer found recently that are found on the duodenal bulb. By using the gastrointestinal radiography, the cancer could be easily detected. In this article, the radiographic, clinical and pathologic detection of cancer is discussed.
Case Report of patients affected by Duodenal Cancer
An 85 year old man observed different health problems of iron-deficiency anemia, guaiacpositive stool and aporadic pain in the lower abdomen. The doctors treat the patient by using H2 receptor antagonists. The gastrointestinal radiography has found out the stalkless and a small bit of lobulated polyp at the lower part of the duodenal. This ulcer has the diameter of 1.3 cm that was distinct from pylorus. Later on doctors found a 1.5 cm polyp by doing endoscopy of the duodenal bulb. By performing endoscopic biopsy has revealed out a papillary adenocarcinoma.
During the surgery, a tiny lobulated polyp of 1.5 cm is observed in patient duodenal bulb. The treatment of the patient is done by using gastroduodenectomy . After the pathologic examination of the cut edges, the treatment has brought out the papillary adenocarcinoma that was present at the bottom of the duodenal bulb. This ulcer was detected as a mucosa, whereas the lymph nodes are not affected by this cancer.
After the treatment, the lesion was known pathologically as the Duodenal Mucosa Cancer.
Discussion:
Duodenal Cancer is uncommon, but yet it is responsible for small cancers from 45% to 65%. The tumors are found in duodenum due to the adenomatous polyps that was present beforehand. This cancer is generally found in periampullary regions or ampullary regions that are near to the duodenum. Sometimes, the tumors could also occur in other body parts.
The symptoms of the Duodenal Cancer are nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain or weight loss. Most of the diagnostic patients that have Duodenal Cancer suffer from poor prognosis that would reduce the survival rates by 5 year that ranges from 20%-40%. The other factors that hamper the survival rates in patients could be the presence or absence, depth of invasion, symptoms durations and distant or nodal metastases.
The advanced stage of the Duodenal Cancer is found as the ringe lesions, ulcerated or polyploidy. Earlier reports have not detected the Duodenal Cancer. These could only be found due to the radiography and by endoscopy. Other tumors could be found by the radiography referred as the polypeptide lesions. Both the type of the polyps looked smooth and rounded in shape. A common type among all these is the benign tumors. The barium studies have showed that the polyps having more than 1 cm diameter were the ulcerated or lobulated lesions.
Thanks,
Pennie Bickerstaff
| Duodenal cancer | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
 Endoscopic image of adenocarcinoma of duodenum seen in the post-bulbar duodenum. | |
| ICD-10 | C17.0 |
| ICD-9 | 152.0 |
| MeSH | D004379 |
The duodenum is the first part of the small intestine. It is located between the stomach and the jejunum. After foods combine with stomach acid, they descend into the duodenum where they mix with bile from the gall bladder and digestive juices from the pancreas.
Duodenal Cancer is a rare tumor that occurs less than 1% compare to other cancers. This tumor affects the duodenum periampullary regions or the ampullary. Many of the Duodenal Cancer could be easily found at an early stage. This is because when the tumor occurs in the body then they could be easily noticed by the lymph nodes and adjacent structures.
EarlierDuodenal Cancer could be easily found out by the endoscopy without identifying the symptoms of the disease. A new type of cancer found recently that are found on the duodenal bulb. By using the gastrointestinal radiography, the cancer could be easily detected. In this article, the radiographic, clinical and pathologic detection of cancer is discussed.
Case Report of patients affected by Duodenal Cancer
An 85 year old man observed different health problems of iron-deficiency anemia, guaiacpositive stool and aporadic pain in the lower abdomen. The doctors treat the patient by using H2 receptor antagonists. The gastrointestinal radiography has found out the stalkless and a small bit of lobulated polyp at the lower part of the duodenal. This ulcer has the diameter of 1.3 cm that was distinct from pylorus. Later on doctors found a 1.5 cm polyp by doing endoscopy of the duodenal bulb. By performing endoscopic biopsy has revealed out a papillary adenocarcinoma.
During the surgery, a tiny lobulated polyp of 1.5 cm is observed in patient duodenal bulb. The treatment of the patient is done by using gastroduodenectomy . After the pathologic examination of the cut edges, the treatment has brought out the papillary adenocarcinoma that was present at the bottom of the duodenal bulb. This ulcer was detected as a mucosa, whereas the lymph nodes are not affected by this cancer.
After the treatment, the lesion was known pathologically as the Duodenal Mucosa Cancer.
Discussion:
Duodenal Cancer is uncommon, but yet it is responsible for small cancers from 45% to 65%. The tumors are found in duodenum due to the adenomatous polyps that was present beforehand. This cancer is generally found in periampullary regions or ampullary regions that are near to the duodenum. Sometimes, the tumors could also occur in other body parts.
The symptoms of the Duodenal Cancer are nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain or weight loss. Most of the diagnostic patients that have Duodenal Cancer suffer from poor prognosis that would reduce the survival rates by 5 year that ranges from 20%-40%. The other factors that hamper the survival rates in patients could be the presence or absence, depth of invasion, symptoms durations and distant or nodal metastases.
The advanced stage of the Duodenal Cancer is found as the ringe lesions, ulcerated or polyploidy. Earlier reports have not detected the Duodenal Cancer. These could only be found due to the radiography and by endoscopy. Other tumors could be found by the radiography referred as the polypeptide lesions. Both the type of the polyps looked smooth and rounded in shape. A common type among all these is the benign tumors. The barium studies have showed that the polyps having more than 1 cm diameter were the ulcerated or lobulated lesions.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Happy, Happy
I am so thankful that God has protected me once again from the big scare of cancer. The surgeon said he thinks I have a small hernia. We are going to watch it and hopefully it will not grow to be any bigger. Thank you so much for all your prayers.
Pennie Bickerstaff
Pennie Bickerstaff
Friday, March 1, 2013
The Waiting Game Begins Again...
At the end of last week I noticed a blue, dark spot on my tummy. I felt there and noticed there was a knot and it is tender to the touch. I had an appointment to see the oncologist on Feb. 28, 2013. At that visit he wanted to know if there is anything new, reluctantly I told him about the tenderness.
He ordered an ultra sound and for me to see the surgeon. He said it is a palpated hardened nodule and he wants it out. We are being over cautious and for great reasons.
Today March 1, 2013 I had the ultra sound done of my spleen, pancreas, liver, and where the nodule is located. Once again the waiting game begins, I will see the surgeon on March 13, 2013.
I am asking that you lift me up in prayer, I am still in remission and I would love to stay that way.
When the doctor at UAB did my surgery in 2010 he told us it was precancer. The pathology report states that I had cancer cells in my duodenal.
Just so you will understand how serious this disease is and what force it carries because there is no current research on how to treat or kill out these cells on the market today.
I have met people all across the world some live in Countries where they don't know a thing about how to deal with our bodies. Unfortunately here in the United States most doctors do not know either so they send us on our way. We reach out and try to share our pros and cons on what we learn at our doctor visits and test.
One person was sent home to die, no surgery, no treatments and no hope.
I am so thankful for Dr. Pineda my oncologist who has guided and helped me through this journey.
Pennie Bickerstaff
He ordered an ultra sound and for me to see the surgeon. He said it is a palpated hardened nodule and he wants it out. We are being over cautious and for great reasons.
Today March 1, 2013 I had the ultra sound done of my spleen, pancreas, liver, and where the nodule is located. Once again the waiting game begins, I will see the surgeon on March 13, 2013.
I am asking that you lift me up in prayer, I am still in remission and I would love to stay that way.
When the doctor at UAB did my surgery in 2010 he told us it was precancer. The pathology report states that I had cancer cells in my duodenal.
Just so you will understand how serious this disease is and what force it carries because there is no current research on how to treat or kill out these cells on the market today.
I have met people all across the world some live in Countries where they don't know a thing about how to deal with our bodies. Unfortunately here in the United States most doctors do not know either so they send us on our way. We reach out and try to share our pros and cons on what we learn at our doctor visits and test.
One person was sent home to die, no surgery, no treatments and no hope.
I am so thankful for Dr. Pineda my oncologist who has guided and helped me through this journey.
Pennie Bickerstaff
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Duodenal Cancer
If you know of anyone who has been diagnosed with duodenal cancer we have a database spreadsheet designed to help those learn about our treatments and options. We have found comfort in sharing our journey with those who have been there. This is a very rare cancer and there is very little known about how to treat it. We need your prayers and we want the public to be aware of this disease. Our lives have changed forever and we may never live to see a cure in our time. This spreadsheet is so important to help those who are starting their journey. If you area diagnosed duodenal cancer survivor please contact us on the yahoo e-group below.
We have a yahoo e-group just type in your search engine (duodenalcancer · Duodenal Cancer Group).
Thanks,
Pennie
We have a yahoo e-group just type in your search engine (duodenalcancer · Duodenal Cancer Group).
Thanks,
Pennie
I'm Still Winning!!!
On February 14, 2013 I will Celebrate Valentines Day with the love of my life. It is not just any Celebration it is the day before my 3rd Anniversary of beating cancer again. I love Donald with all my heart and we have learned to TRUST GOD with all our needs. He knew I would need a man who would love me and be my biggest supporter. I told him just the other day how much I love and adore him for taken care of not just me but my family. He was a great caregiver to my mom, dad, brother, our son and now my uncle.
I always stop to smell the roses, I don't mind the thorns either it cannot always be pain free.
Sharing what God has brought our family through is a blessing in disguise. When I reach out to a new cancer patient, or a mom and dad who has suffered the loss of a child, or a lady who feels like she is not useful anymore because of her handicaps, it is not me, it is GOD.
I never know just where the road will lead, why I don't mind so much anymore I just trust GOD. All I have is the promises that He loves me and knows me better than anyone. I will Celebrate the Victory of Surviving my second cancer diagnoses.
God Bless,
Pennie
I always stop to smell the roses, I don't mind the thorns either it cannot always be pain free.
Sharing what God has brought our family through is a blessing in disguise. When I reach out to a new cancer patient, or a mom and dad who has suffered the loss of a child, or a lady who feels like she is not useful anymore because of her handicaps, it is not me, it is GOD.
I never know just where the road will lead, why I don't mind so much anymore I just trust GOD. All I have is the promises that He loves me and knows me better than anyone. I will Celebrate the Victory of Surviving my second cancer diagnoses.
God Bless,
Pennie
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