At 2:00 a.m. on March 6, 2006, I woke up itching.  It persisted through the rest of the morning when I decided to go to ER and have it checked out.  I was given a prescription and sent on my way.  I had been having a dull bellyache for about a week which continued as well as the itching.  The following Monday I called in sick and arranged to go to the hospital for an ultrasound.  The technician keep looking at the screen and then left to bring back two other people.  Again I was sent on my way.  That night a doctor called and asked if I wanted to be admitted that night or the next morning.  When I showed up the next morning, I was put in a room with a bed and a doctor came in holding a box of tissues.  I thought to myself that he must have a cold.  I didn't realize that the tissues were for me as he informed me that I had bile duct cancer.  I was too shocked to respond so he went on to explain that I had jaundice which was why I was itching (my eyes were yellow as well).  A stent had to be done that day.  Then he left with his box of tissues.  I went into the bathroom and cried; however, when I returned to the room, I had an utter calmness within myself.  From then on I was not afraid or nervous.  I later knew that God had given me this sense of peace to help me get through this.  I had the stent done and two wonderful doctors found just the doctor I needed at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.  One arranged for me to be transported there by ambulance,  Once there, I was kept for a week while another stent was done and my jaundice taken care of.  Then I was sent home for a week while surgery was scheduled.  I had a liver resection and bypass with an incision down my middle and to the side.  I was in the hospital for 10 days and went home the Saturday before Easter.  For the rest of that year I underwent radiation and chemo.  In September, I got shingles on my inner thighs.  I ended up in ER again not knowing what to think.  I was given a prescription and told to be careful around anyone who hadn't had chickenpox yet as I was highly contagious.  That person was my youngest daughter.  Luckily, I was careful and to this day she has never contracted chickenpox.

I was told that bile duct cancer was very rare and usually Chinese men were susceptible to it.  Well, I'm neither a man nor Chinese so I don't know how I got to be so lucky.  I have even met nurses who

would ask about my symptoms because they had never seen anyone with this type of cancer before.

I am interested in communicating with anyone else who might have had this cancer and what their experience has been.