Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Frequently Asked Questions
What the heck is cholangiocarcinoma?
Cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, is a type of cancer that forms in the bile ducts. It's fairly rare, with estimates of it occurring in 0.5–2 people per 100,000 per year. It's also pretty aggressive. Mine is extrahepatic, meaning it's outside the liver, in the common bile duct. A couple of links:
Where the heck is Brunei?
Brunei is a tiny, tiny country on the island of Borneo, which it shares with Malaysia and Indonesia.
What stage is the cancer?
Contrary to popular belief, it's usually not possible to tell the stage of a cancer until the surgery itself. Sometimes it's obvious, but often it's not. The doctors BELIEVE that it's really early, Stage 0 or 1, but they won't actually know until I go under the knife. Once there, they can look around, remove the cancerous tissue, and see if it's migrated elsewhere, like the lymph nodes (which would be bad. Very bad.). The tissue will then be sent to a lab, where they'll check the "margins", or the edges of the tissue. If the lymph nodes are clear, and the margins are clear, I'll be done! For now. I'll probably always have to keep checking to see if it's come back - like I said, it's aggressive, sneaky, and rare.
Do you always curse this much?
In my personal life? Absolutely. I LOVE profanity. I generally try not to use the GD word around people who believe in god, by their request, but otherwise, all bets are off. If you ask me nicely, I'll try not to curse around you in person. Here, on MY blog, I will curse to my heart's content.
Professionally? Absolutely not. I teach kids, for fuck's sake!
I have more questions!
Drop me a comment! Or an email, at onthewaytobrunei@gmail.com
I'll be adding to this as people ask me questions.
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