Sexy & Romantic glitter graphics from Sexi Luv.comHello my name is Angel Dean, I am 25 years old and I live in Indiana and this is my story. It all began in the fall of 1998. I was 16 years old and not a care in the world but, all of that was about to change. In a conversation with my mom I said, "Mom I have a hard spot under my right lung" the next thing I knew I was at deaconess hospital getting a cat scan. I remember what happened next the next thing like it was yesterday. The doctor that read my results told me and my mom that I needed to go to Indianapolis right away. He also informed us about the very large mass that he had detected on my scan. Well as it turned out when we got to Indy we met DR. Crawford in pediatrics. He confirmed that he had never seen anything like this before in his life, so we were sent to another doctor then another and another, and still none of them had ever seen anything quiet like my case. On November 1, 1998 the Doctors performed an angiogram to make sure this mass did not involve my aorta artery, the artery main artery of the heart, and thank goodness it did not but, what it did show is that I needed surgery FAST!!! Then on November 15, 1998 we received a call from Dr Fredrick Rescorla a pediatric surgeon at Riley Hospital in Indy. He made it very clear that we needed to get to Indy as soon as possible to discuss surgery options. He asked my mom how soon we could get there and parents had me there the very next day which was great because he had already set up the surgery for November 17, 1998 at 2:00 p.m. We left on the 16th to begin our trip. My whole family came with me which consisted of my parents and my younger sister Krystal and my even younger brother Donald. We arrived at Riley Hospital at about 12:45 on the 17th. I registered with the office, had an IV started in my arm and was wheeled away heading to what was said to be a four hour surgery that ended up being close to 18 hours. I really don’t remember much of anything for the first few days after that only what my mom tells me. She stayed at the hospital with me the whole time. I had a number of procedures done while in the hospital some of which I do remember and hoped that I would never have again. I was in the hospital on my 17th birthday (December 1) and remember it very well because I thought I was going to get to come home, but unfortunately my blood levels dropped again, I had a fever, and was shocked to notice my skin was oozing yellow stuff and I was extremely jaundice. I was then wheeled right back into surgery for a nicked bile duct which was fixed by having a stint placed in the duct to stop the leakage and a drain tube was placed inside the stint that went to the outside of my body. After that was repaired by Dr. Stewart Sherman I was fixed again! I thought, things went fine the next few weeks and I was sent home in late December. The following year meant lots of scans, having blood drawn, and tests, tests, tests. In January of 1999 I started throwing up huge amounts of blood huge meaning globs and globs of blood and back to the hospital I went. I had developed esphogeal varices from having 85% of my liver removed the pressure inside my body was so strong it began causing other major problems. Not knowing what they (the doctors) were dealing with the department of defense was notified of my soccer ball size tumor, they studied and studied it until the well they confirmed it was Synovial Cell Carcinoma and I was the only person in the whole wide world to be diagnosed with this disease. Fast forward to the year 2006 December I'm feeling really weird and confused and actually started my episodes of throwing up the large quantities of blood. After feeling this way for some time and then throwing up the blood I told my mom. I then threw up really bad one night and into the morning and my boyfriend had to call an ambulance to our apartment and have me rushed to the hospital. After some tests I was told I had some stomach ulcers. I had my usual rounds of blood work and tests done at this time. The scan results came back and revealed that the cancer that had successfully been removed and been gone for about 8 years, is back, only it is not by itself. Then doctors told me that I have three tumors on my liver and they are all of different types of cancer, one in which they have not seen very much of if any cases of it at all, it’s still being researched. So today is January 22, 2007 I'm sit in room at Indiana University/Purdue University Hospital waiting for news to start CEMO or move forward to the liver transplant ASAP. I know my transplant is coming but my doctors really don't know what to do first for the simple fact that it is a very big operation and that all the means to getting this done the most tactful way are taking into thought. I am just waiting for them to tell me when and how long I may have to wait for my surgery. There is a whole lot more to my story, enough for me to write a book actually but I just wanted to share the basic information with you to better understand this website and what its purpose is. This whole experience has effected my life in a way that I can’t quiet explain. I know for the road ahead that I must keep my spirits high, think good positive things and always remember that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger mind, body, and spirit wise. God would have not have dealt me this card in life if he knew that I couldn’t make it threw a stronger better person. I would like to take the time to thank you for visiting my site and learning a little about me.
www.angelinneed.com and it's in our newspaper
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/feb/23/angels-cancer-is-family-fight/
