My Name is Mary Papi. I am 51 yrs. old, married to my husband, Michael, for almost 25 years, and have a daughter, Elena, who is 23. I am no stranger to health problems. Three months after my daughter was born, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and have been on insulin ever since. Did quite well until 8 years ago, when I developed neuropathy in my feet and legs. I was also having trouble with constipation. My doctor sent me for a colonoscopy, and they found a very small polyp, removed it, and told me that I had IBS. They didn't make a fuss over the polyp at all. I was told to repeat the scope in 3 years, but kept putting it off...wish I hadn't now. In 2002, I was in a lot of muscular and joint pain, and eventually diagnosed with Mixed Connective Tissue Disease...an Auto-Immune condition with overlapping symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Lupus. While being treated for that, I became very anemic. The doctors thought it was due to peri-menopause and I had a total hysterectomy in the fall of 2005. I seemed to be doing a lot better until February of 2006. At that time I was feeling just awful, was extremely tired, and at times I felt like my heart was doing weird things. Still constipated, but that was just the IBS, or so I thought. Long story short, my internist sent me for another colonoscopy, telling me that it would be a good idea to check the colon again, but that she didn't think they'd find anything. A week later, I was told that I had Stage 3 Colon Cancer, had my sigmoid colon removed, and that out of 22 lymph nodes taken, 3 were positive. At the time of the surgery, I was told that my liver "looked beautiful". 6 weeks later, I began 7 months of chemo, 5FU/Leucovorin. (Oxaliplatin was not an option for me because I already have neuropathy.) I was told that I had a great prognosis, and that I could beat this. From November until March of this year, I was feeling great...blood work every three months, sailing along, thinking I had my life back. That all changed in March. My CEA had jumped to 22. It was only 4.2 when the cancer was discovered. I was sent for a CAT Scan, and the results were shocking. I had tumors in my liver, mets from the colon cancer. They told me it was inoperable. I was devastated. My oncologist at the time said I had a few options, RFA, chemo directly to the liver with a pump, and of course, more systemic chemotherapy. At about the same time, my husband's sister was talking with a good friend of hers, and told her about me. Her friend, Beth Oman, who works at William Beaumont Hospital in Interventional Radiology Oncology, was adamant that I call her.The next morning I posted to the Colon Cancer online support group. About an hour later, I got an Instant AOL message from Suzanne Lindley. I talked with her about SirSpheres. Later that day, I called Beth, who was able to get me in to see Dr. William Romano later that week. I met with Dr. Romano, and was pre-screened for SirSpheres, and on April 17, I had the treatment. It all went very well, and I only had a few days side effects. I am happy to report that as of this morning, May 16, my CEA has dropped to 6, and there is evidence that the tumors have gotten smaller, and one even seems to be gone! I am amazed! I will be having a second dose of the Spheres, smaller this time, and I am still looking at a course of chemo, but I feel that I have a much better chance at survival after having the Spheres!
1-877-937-7478
Yttrium 90 Microspheres Education and Support
When The Improbable
Is Possible
