Kimberly’s Story (Carcinoid Cancer)

Hi my name is Kimberly Smith, in the year of 2009 I had been sick for sometime.I had a gastroenterologist diagnose me with IBS and prescribed me medications. I was getting sicker and the medications were no longer working. I was losing weight, had bad painful diarrhea attacks suddenly, and I started seeing another doctor whom did not seem to care that I was running fevers, loosing weight, and having diarrhea very bad.

After two visits to this doctor telling him the same symptoms he would say it’s a sinus infection, take this antibiotic. On the next visit say it’s an abscess tooth and he’d say take this antibiotic. Well  on the third visit I was furious. I said, “Look doctor no one knows my body better than I do, I feel like I am going to fall over dead.” So finally he sent me to a gastroenterologist. He immediately judged me saying that he did not think that’s where the problem was, and I needed to see a therapist. I said, “Okay, I will. But explain to me the fevers, the diarrhea, and weigh loss. He said, “Oh yeah, we will do a colonoscopy.” On May 7, 2009 he did a colonoscopy and he said he found a polyp and he removed it.

I went home, I was in so much pain. I had to go back to ER because he had perforated my bowel when he removed what he said was a polyp. I had emergency surgery and had my stomach clamped together in hospital for a week. When my results came back they found I had carcinoid cancer not a polyp. I had to be cut open again six weeks later for right hemicolectomy to have my small intestines and lymph nodes removed because it had spread there in four of them.

I am still battling four years later, loosing blood and swelling because the carcinoid can go to the heart and cause ascites, swelling the liver. I am in constant pain and still fighting it. Recently I had a roommate getting my mail and she was not giving it to me. It caused me to not go to a review for my disability and now I’m battling that. I hope things will get better. Thanks for reading my story.

Kimberly
North Carolina
Submitted 04/07/2014

The informational content of this article is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.

This story is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.