Friday, October 04, 2013

The Saga - Hepatocellular carcinoma


2 months ago I didnt know what is ' Hepatocellular Carcinoma '.
Is that a species of a flower? Or a scientific name for a kayu?
Or a cousin to Mr Hippopotamus?

We loss dear hubby cum daddy to Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
I am sharing what I have read and researched on this matter during the turmoil.  
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a cancer for a liver.
It occurs more often in men and those of 50 years and above. 
It fits .... hubby and he was above 50 years old.

HCC starts in the liver itself.  It is not metastatic.  Metastatic means spread from other organ in the body.
In hubby's case, it was in the liver only.

What are the causes? Mostly due to cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) atau bahasa melayunya, kerosakan pada hati sehingga meninggalkan parut.  So, what makes your hati rosak

Banyak causesnya.... macam pilih jawapan objective dalam ujian Sains PMR:

a.  alcohol abuse
b.  hepatitis B or C virus infection
c.  inflammation of the liver
d.  iron overload in the body

In hubby's case, he was a positive hepatitis B carrier and we only got to know about this in August after his blood test was done.  He was also an alcohol consumer.  So, jawapannya a dan b.

What are the symptoms?
Memang ada symptoms but we all tak perasan.  It was not obvious.  We were very naive.  Bawa gi doktor check pun doktor cakap tak ada apa-apa.  Kasi pain killer je...
The symptoms are:

a.  abdominal pain or tenderness, especially in the upper-right part
b.  easy bruising or bleeding
c.  enlarged abdomen
d.  Yellow skin or eyes (jaundice)

Abdominal pain at upper right.  Ermmm... sometimes in March, he just came back from his traveling to Simunjan.  It was during the election period and he as a department head was busy following the ministers here n there during their campaigns and functions to meet the rakyats.  It was around 3am, and he complained of severe pain at the upper right of the abdomen.  I quickly rushed him to KPJ.  The doctor checked and claimed that it was just a muscle pain!  Muscle pain your 'toooooooot'!!

The whole month he complained of the pain there.  Urut with minyaklah every now and then.  He even wore my corset. He went to his regular doctor to have a check also gave the same reason.  Muscle pain.  Then the pain subsided. If only we knew at that time...... 

Somewhere in the middle of July, he started to look yellowish .... but I did not realize.
He also started to lose weight.... but I did not realize.  Thought that his diet worked, coz he changed his eating habit and food that he consumed.

Dah bunyi macam orang dalam medical line dah I ni kan? It is good to read and do your own research to enlighten yourself to all the questions and queries in the head.

.... to be continued...


1 comment:

Coffee Girl said...

I am still amazed at how strong and positive you are throughout the whole ordeal, and after it. Some ppl wudve crumbled and depressed with sadness although that wudve been understandable too. Maybe we all just grieve differently. :) Thanks for sharing too. Cant wait to read part two..