Guest Blog: My story of surviving stomach cancer in Turkiye – PART V

Guest Blog 7 – PART V

By Mehtap Savaş

January 2025

Ankara, Turkiye

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This guest blog consists of seven parts – hyperlinks will be added as they are published in order:

PART I – INTRODUCTION (please see here)

PART II – LIFE WITH CANCER AND TREATMENT (please see here)

PART III – LIFE WITHOUT A STOMACH (please see here)

PART IV – RETURN TO WORK AND IMPACT OF CANCER (please see here)

PART V – FOLLOW UP: GOOD DOCTORS, BAD DOCTORS

PART VI – CURRENT STATE & FINAL WORDS (please see here)

PART VII –  SILENCE OF THE MOTHERS (please see here)

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PART V – FOLLOW UP: GOOD DOCTORS, BAD DOCTORS

MY ONCOLOGIST TAKES ONE YEAR UNPAID LEAVE

During my 6-month check-ups, my oncologist took a one-year unpaid leave from the hospital. I was so sad and shaken. Since my doctor was very important to me, I could not imagine his absence. Due to the stress I was experiencing, I developed skin break ups in my abdominal area. 

Fortunately, he opened a private practice before my next 6-month check-up. Now I can make an appointment without any problems. During the years when my oncologist was practicing at the hospital, he would also perform examinations at 5 or 6 am in the morning due to lack of time. I went to him a lot in these early hours.


BEING STUBBORN WITH MY DOCTOR :-)

I have never delayed my check-ups. But sometimes I get stubborn with my oncologist about the tests. He is very detail oriented and does not miss the smallest thing. I didn't want to have some tests done. But I never succeeded :-)  Keep trying :-)


HOW DID MY ANNUAL CHECK-UPS DECREASE TO 3-4 MONTHS AGAIN?

About 3 years ago, during my check-up after my mother's death, my CA 16-19 levels, one of the tumor markers, were high. Thereupon, a special MRI was performed on the liver, pancreas and gallbladder area and a gastroenterology consultation was performed along with other tests. Nothing untoward happened, but the check intervals were reduced to 3 months. My doctor only agreed to take a 4-month break at my request so that I could go to the summer house in the summer.

All my tomography and MRI scans were performed at Hacettepe Hospital, with a few exceptions. But 1.5 years ago, for the first time, I could not find a paid private MRI day. They could give a date 3 months later. I had to have it done at a private imaging center for a very high fee. And I uploaded the previous MRI image and the result report to the imaging center's system.

MRI SHOCK

A few days later, the results arrived in my e-mail. When I read it, it said that I had widespread metastases in many parts of my liver. This time I really had a big shock. At that time, I was a devastated person who could not accept the death of my mother and was experiencing the greatest pain of my life. I also had panic attacks that started with my mother's illness. 

I made an emergency appointment with my oncologist. When I went, he had already read the results of the examination that had been sent to his e-mail. He told me that stomach cancer will not metastasize like this after many years. He called the imaging center and asked them to examine it again. He asked me to get the MRI images from the center and asked for them to be examined by a Professor Radiologists at Hacettepe Hospital.

When I returned home, I compared the areas called metastases with my previous MRI result. They even interpreted the hemangioma (a benign growth formed by the expansion of blood vessels) that had existed in my liver from the very beginning as metastasis.

When I went to the Imaging Center, they asked me to come back 3 days later for the MRI CD taken there. I said that I did not have time and that I wanted both the CD and the MRI results immediately. And I reminded him that the previous MRI images were loaded in the system. 

Frankly, I was annoyed that 3 employees sitting next to each other asked me to wait 3 days to load a simple CD with my imaging results. If I received the CD late, it would cause me to lose time as it would be re-examined at Hacettepe Hospital. This was a waste of my time.

Half an hour later, one of the employees brought the corrected report and the MRI CD. I said I wanted to meet the doctor. They refused, but I insisted. I couldn't remain silent on such an important issue. Our lives are filled with examinations and such a doctor's error was not acceptable.

The doctor came and explained the report to me, stating that she did not interpret the lesion in the right adrenal gland as problematic. However, this didn't matter to me anymore. The MRI would be re-examined at Hacettepe Hospital. Not only would this bring another financial burden, but the consequences of my psychological state would not be easily resolved.

I asked her, "Can you imagine what kind of mood a cancer patient would be in when they see such a result?" I also asked her if this was a control MRI and what she compared it with to reach her conclusion. She apologized to me and said that her staff did not inform her about the previous MRI. I said, as a doctor, I would expect you to ask me for this even if I did not provide the previous images. I told her that I was suffering from major depression and panic attacks, and that such events caused my depression to escalate.  

She apologized again and said she had learned her lesson. 

I wish she hadn't learned her lesson from me.


HACETTEPE HOSPITAL RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

We have the opportunity to choose the doctor when we have an MRI at Hacettepe Hospital or when we want the ones taken outside to be re-evaluated. Especially radiology professors are very good in their field. When one of these doctors evaluated the MRI, he stated that no mass or distant metastasis was detected in my liver, however, there was a millimetric lesion in the right adrenal gland and a close follow-up was recommended. 

There are many diseases originating from the adrenal gland. Adrenal hyperplasia, adrenal Cushing syndrome and pheochromocytoma are examples.

The reason why I mention these is that while one doctor gave an examination result in the direction of metastasis, another doctor reached the correct conclusion with a detailed examination to indicate which disease the lesion in the adrenal gland indicated.

Since my oncologist is very careful and experienced, he examines the imaging results performed outside Hacettepe Hospital and often has them re-examined at Hacettepe when necessary. You can see the benefits of re-examination or re-interpretation of medical results.

MY 3RD SURGERY

As a result of the re-examination performed at Hacettepe Hospital, my oncologist referred me to a professor who was an endocrine surgeon at the same hospital. I had likely an adrenal gland-related disease that can be detected very rarely and can cause high blood pressure that does not decrease and sudden deaths due to reasons such as stroke and heart attack. 

If I didn't have cancer and didn't have regular checkups, it might not have been detected, either. Especially considering my hospital phobia...

The endocrine surgeon listed the tests I needed to have first. Since the adrenal gland is an organ that has nothing to do with the kidney and is responsible for the production of many important hormones in the body, the tests were generally related to hormones.

When the tests were completed, my surgery was performed 1.5 years ago. My doctor performed my surgery in a private hospital, not Hacettepe Hospital. The doctor said that he would first start with laparoscopy and then convert it to open surgery depending on the situation. Ultimately, it was converted to open surgery. My brother, who lives in another city, came for my surgery. We used the hospital's companion service for a companion to stay with me.

Before the surgery, I talked to the head nurse and told her that I could not eat sugary things because I did not have a stomach, and I asked for my meals to be arranged accordingly. But since they didn't take this into consideration, dishes like sugary pudding were coming and I couldn't eat them. My doctor said I can't discharge you unless you eat something. 

Of course I couldn't eat it. I had no appetite at all. I stayed in the hospital for three days, but the painkillers made me confused. Those days felt like a month to me. My close friends from my workplace came to support me both in the afternoon and in the evening.

A week later, my brother had to return because of his work. We were alone at home with my two cats. When I returned from the hospital, one of my cats, Monica, never left me alone day and night and always slept next to me. She usually sleeps in her bed on the floor of my bedroom.

After the surgery, a hematoma (blood collection) formed in my stitch area and my doctor said it would go away over time. About 10 days later, dark blood started leaking from one of the laparoscopy holes. I went to the doctor and he explained to me how to drain this blood. I did what he said twice a day for about 10 days until the discharge stopped.

What was more difficult was running between buildings to perform the procedures when the pathology report came out and my oncologist wanted it to be re-examined at Hacettepe Hospital. I had a balance problem, I was walking swaying and I was in no mood. Then, my thyroid check was started immediately and a biopsy was performed. As someone who just had surgery, it was very tiring.

Then my 3-4 month check-ups continued. At my last check-up, my oncologist requested so many tests that I was going to 3 different hospitals a day. And finally I went back to yearly check-up schedule.

NEXT: PART VI – CURRENT STATE & FINAL WORDS