Hello everyone....first time blogging in my life. I have read quite a few of your bloggs and am overwhelmed by your stories and the encouraging comments from everyone. I wish I had the positive and eloquent replies that so many of you have. I am at the beginning of my cancer journey. I had a gallbladder attack April 17th, 2012 and went to the emergency room. I was told thatI would have surgery the next day and also that my gallbladder "didn't look very good"....it was the surgeon's way of preparing us for the news. Sure enough, they told me I had gallbladder cancer and have sent my gallbladder off to be analyzed. Fortunately my cancer stage is a T2...cancer has not penetrated the outer layer of the gallbladder. Procedure is to do a Hecatecomy which is take a minimum of an inch off your liver and lymph nodes. It's funny but the thing I was most worried about is that I do not have health insurance. We emptied our 401K plan and have been struggling getting things paid and organized since then. Every time I get the mail I'm hit with another bill. My husband makes too much money to get any financial help other then a self pay discount so we are setting up payment plans with everyone but now I'm stressing about how we're going to pay it all. My husband is a flat rate auto mechanic and in today's Ft. Myers Florida economy his pays have been steadily dropping. My surgeon said gallbladder cancer is a very bad cancer and that this operation is the worst operation I will evere have in my life...he also said it's worse then heart surgery. I am fortunate that I have a stage T2 as the odds of surviving to and past the five year mark are 28%. I will have treatment after the operation but don't know exactly what yet. I did find out that chemo can be thousands of dollars. I have spent the last couple of weeks getting all our paperwork in order and everything organized so my husband won't be in a mess if something happens during surgery. I am a very positive person and know that I will do fine and continue to live far beyong what the statistics say. My heart goes out to all of you when have lost your spouses and who are young. I have lived a wonderful happy life and my children are growen. I seem to be rambling along here but I'm finished now. Take good care of yourselves and refuse to listen to the statistics. You have cancer...cancer doesn't have you. Thank you for listening.
