looking for answers - Cancer Message Board

teresa26 · 09-01-2003, 06:29 AM

i've been feeling poorly since early july. it started with ovarian pain and bloating. that was coupled with a feeling of fullness before i'd finished a regular-sized meal. from there, it just got worse. i became tired - too tired to stay up to work on my hobbies, too tired to work out in the day like i normally did, and so tired that it was a challenge to drag myself out of bed after 8 - 10 hours of sleep. in late july the pain got pretty bad along with the bloating.

in august, i started having a lot of pain above my belly button and to the right (along the rib cage). especially after eating. i also lost my appetite during that time (but maybe i just didn't want to eat because it hurt whenever i did.) then i noticed (by accident) that i had a slight fever. (99.8 when my regular temp is 97.5) after 10 days of the fever, i went to the dr. she ran some blood tests. my LFTs all came back normal. my WBC was normal. and my amylase was slightly elevated (lipase normal). she re-ran the amylase test 4 days later and it was still slightly elevated.

she gave me a scrip for aciphex even though she said she didn't think i had an ulcer. it didn't really help and my fever went up to 100.3. it's been hovering around there ever since (100.0 - 100.3). this is the 21st day in a row that i've had a fever.

my dr told me that it is probably just a "viral thing" although no one else i know is sick. i don't have any flu-like symptoms, no coughing, etc. just the abdominal pain, the ovarian pain, lower back pain (when the ovaries hurt) and upper right back pain (that corresponds with the abdominal pain).

i do have endometriosis and have a Gyn appt scheduled for late sept. and my dr finally put in a GI referral after my husband called her a dozen times.

it is not normal for me to run a fever for this long without having the flu. she seems to be brushing it off. she said that since it hasn't gotten over 101 that it's not serious.

i have a GI appt next week, but i have no idea what they are going to do or even look for.

i am going to be 27 in a couple of months, so i tell myself that i'm not in a high-risk category for cancer. especially ovarian cancer because i have given birth, breastfed, have taken oral contraceptives.

but i am still a little scared. what could be going on?

thanks for reading.

~teresa

projapoti · 09-01-2003, 10:53 AM

Teresa, I'm not gonna lie to ya, I'm concerned about the symptoms you've given me. The early satiety (i.e. feeling full really fast when eating), the fatigue and fever are not good signs. Did your GP do an ultrasound of your abdomen, 'cause she really should. Now, I want you to realize that not everything that can go wrong in the body is cancer! You could have an ovarian cyst, your endometriosis acting up etc. etc. Unfortunately, though, cancer is on the list. I know that you are in a low risk category group, which is encouraging, but since you haven't had anything done on your abdomen, that still has to be ruled out. Let me know how your appt goes.

teresa26 · 09-01-2003, 11:02 AM

thank you for your quick reply.

no, no abdominal u/s was done. she just asked me some questions, pressed on my abdominal area and send me to the lab. i had mentioned that the morning i had come in i'd had a yellow stool with black dots in it (about the size of a pencil eraser and pretty uniformly circular looking - i asked if it could have been gall stones but she said no). she did do a rectal exam and send it to the lab for a fecal occult blood test. it was negative. she did a urinalysis, too, which was positive for blood. however, i was menstruating at the time so it was unclear as to the cause of the blood. the test was not re-done and she didn't mention it again.

my abdomen is also tender to the touch. (even lightly pressing on it feels like touching a fresh bruise.)

what do you think the GI dr will do? i already know that the Gyn will be doing surgery. (i am having my tubes tied along with the lap for my endo.)

~teresa

projapoti · 09-01-2003, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by teresa26:
thank you for your quick reply.

no, no abdominal u/s was done. she just asked me some questions, pressed on my abdominal area and send me to the lab. i had mentioned that the morning i had come in i'd had a yellow stool with black dots in it (about the size of a pencil eraser and pretty uniformly circular looking - i asked if it could have been gall stones but she said no). she did do a rectal exam and send it to the lab for a fecal occult blood test. it was negative. she did a urinalysis, too, which was positive for blood. however, i was menstruating at the time so it was unclear as to the cause of the blood. the test was not re-done and she didn't mention it again.

my abdomen is also tender to the touch. (even lightly pressing on it feels like touching a fresh bruise.)

what do you think the GI dr will do? i already know that the Gyn will be doing surgery. (i am having my tubes tied along with the lap for my endo.)

~teresa

Hey Teresa....all right, here we go:

Your abdomen is tender? That could be a sign of peritonitis...I think that you need a more thorough exam. I am shocked that your urinalysis wasn't repeated after you weren't menstruating!

Did you have a pelvic exam done? The doctor should have done a bimanual pelvic exam where (s)he feels your cervix and vagina for any abnormalities, and also palpates your ovaries for any abnormalities as well. Did your doctor at least do that?

I am also shocked that, with your history of early satieity that an u/s wasn't done. This is just strange.

The GI doctor will probably end up doing some kind of abdominal imaging. The funny thing is, HE (or she) might be the person who ends up doing the bimanual pelvic exam.

Did you ask your doctor why she didn't perform any abdominal imaging?

teresa26 · 09-01-2003, 12:28 PM

yes, i had my annual pap and pelvic exam done in june. everything there was normal according to my dr. and i would figure that if i had ovarian cancer, it would have been noticed either then or during the blood test. is that right? wouldn't my WBC be elevated if i had cancer?

i did not ask my dr about abdominal imaging. she is pretty confident that i have a "viral thing" (her words) and she only gave me a GI referral after being bugged by my husband. she did offer to write another Rx for a different "stomach medicine" since the aciphex wasn't really helping. but since she said it was viral, i thought it was silly to take a stomach medicine. it didn't make much sense to me. since then, i haven't spoken to her. the last thing she said to me was that if my fever got to be above 101, then to go to an ER.

i got the feeling from her that she doesn't think it is anything that really needs treatment and that i should really just try to wait it out but that she gave me a GI referral just to appease me.