Abby Smith

My story starts back at the end of October 2016 just days before my birthday. I had neck and shoulder pain and it got so bad I finally went to urgent care even though I didn't want yet another Dr's bill. But at that visit I explained that it hurt my shoulder and neck to breathe. After that complaint the Dr ordered a blood test to test for a blood clot. Upon getting those results I was sent to the ER for a CT scan of the chest. No clot in the lungs but after a second radiologist looked over the images a second time  he noticed a lesion on the liver. Upon that finding I was ordered a liver MRI. Those images showed multiple lesions on the liver and by their shape it was cancer. So the next step was an oncologist, another CT scan but one with contrast of the whole abdomen. Then a liver biopsy that confirmed the type of cancer I have. I have a type of cancer called carcinoid or the long version would be well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma. A mouth full huh? Neuroendocrine  tumors are different from any other type of  cancer. I was then ordered what's called an Octreoscan. A scan that takes images 2 different days after a radioactive material injected 24 hrs before the first images. This scan shows what the contrast sticks to and lights up receptor cells of the tumors. Through that scan they found additional areas where the cancer has shown up. It showed up in the left hip, a lower vertebrae, and my right shoulder blade.