Please Help Us Fight Cancer!
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Hi everyone, bless you for even taking a look here. I really appreciate you taking the time.
My wife and I are a bit in shock here in learning a few days ago that I have cancer at age 44, and we're reeling with trying to get into the medical system here in HI. We have a start, and I'll be having my first surgery this coming week to remove my right testicle (and the tumor within it). I'm really mixed on this because I'm in a terrible amount of pain up into my abdomen, as if I was just kicked, and the procedures involved could leave me infertile just as we were trying to get pregnant.
This news arrived just as some very bad labs did this morning (Sat, Oct. 6th), and I may be up against metastatic testicular cancer, while an unknown complication is inflaming my lymphatic system all the way up into my neck, seizing my back, and impairing my cognition. It's very frightening, though I know that I can beat this with my wonderful wife by my side and a little help with pursuing the best advances in medical sciences.
Update 10/8/18: We have arranged for travel for my radical inguinal orchiectomy, and are heading to the Queen's ER tomorrow. The health system here has not provided any sort of treatment plan (or even completed basic testing) while my condition is deteriorating. It's pretty stressful and I hope to have some competent doctors and surgeons evaluating me within the next twelve hours.
Thank you. In the past two days we have received amazing support in handling basic logistics so that we can take action and at this point all donations will be going directly towards funding all medical bills. Most importantly, perhaps to me is that your donations will help us stay focused on the healing, no matter what is required. Anis and I are grateful to everyone, and don't have better words.
Thank you so much, my family so much who is emotionally behind us 100%, and most of all I thank my sweet wife for sticking by my side through this.
Update 10/12/18: We have had a successful first surgery!
I'm in recovery today, and the surgery couldn't have gone smoother yesterday except for having to walk around post -op, it was handled very well. I'm resting in a hotel room on Oahu, just minutes from the hospital in case of complication though can safely assure all of my supporters that you helped us to do the correct thing, and we're looking forward to learning more about the pathology in the coming weeks.
Right now we don't have a good idea of what final costs will be though I thought you would appreciate knowing that we were able to pay for the hospital charge and prothesis cash, up front, before I was even put under. This was such a stress reliever, and we'll keep chipping away at the bills as they come.
Thank you all so much, this has been as good of a start to such shocking turns of events that anyone could hope for, and I'm lacking better words to show my appreciation. You all ROCK!
Update 10/24/18:
My pathology has been confirmed to be an extremely rare form of cancer known as Spermatocystic Seminoma. While the odds are amazingly low of contracting this disease--about one in 3.3 million men per year are diagnosed with it--the good news is that it's highly treatable.
We are in limbo here at 13 days post-op and still have not received helped for oncology. The medical system here is really that bad off. What we hope will happen today is that I'll get scheduled with an oncologist who can officially stage my cancer, and formulate the complete treatment plan. This may involve chemotherapy and radiation therapy, or if we're very lucky it might just be monitoring and testing for five years to declare being completely healed.
I'm still very uncomfortable in my groin and I'm nauseated, running a constant low-grade fever, and have no appetite. I've lost 28lbs in the past five weeks. We had to go out of our way to get treatment for pain management, and are staying at home with ice packs and resting as much as possible. The surgery site is healing well, and we're really looking forward to getting some answers soon.
Thank you again to everyone who's helped in any way as this has been a terrifying and excruciating experience, and unfortunately this might just be the beginning of the journey. We'll keep you posted with the data as it arrives.
Update 10/26/18:
We've finally been seen by the oncology team of North Hawaii Community Hospital and further tests have confirmed the success of my first surgery. I've officially been diagnosed as stage 1 and at this point will need CT scans and lab work for the next three years to confirm that there is no metastases, and after three years they will be able to declare my cancer cured.
THANK YOU, and if you're able to make any contributions or share this campaign with someone please do as we're beginning to get hit with the bills that we haven't already paid for from the past month's ordeal. This sucks of course and I'll be able to work we think by late November, so every drop helps us to maintain a normal lifestyle during this healing phase.
Peach and Aloha to you all,
Carl and Anis Miller
My wife and I are a bit in shock here in learning a few days ago that I have cancer at age 44, and we're reeling with trying to get into the medical system here in HI. We have a start, and I'll be having my first surgery this coming week to remove my right testicle (and the tumor within it). I'm really mixed on this because I'm in a terrible amount of pain up into my abdomen, as if I was just kicked, and the procedures involved could leave me infertile just as we were trying to get pregnant.
This news arrived just as some very bad labs did this morning (Sat, Oct. 6th), and I may be up against metastatic testicular cancer, while an unknown complication is inflaming my lymphatic system all the way up into my neck, seizing my back, and impairing my cognition. It's very frightening, though I know that I can beat this with my wonderful wife by my side and a little help with pursuing the best advances in medical sciences.
Update 10/8/18: We have arranged for travel for my radical inguinal orchiectomy, and are heading to the Queen's ER tomorrow. The health system here has not provided any sort of treatment plan (or even completed basic testing) while my condition is deteriorating. It's pretty stressful and I hope to have some competent doctors and surgeons evaluating me within the next twelve hours.
Thank you. In the past two days we have received amazing support in handling basic logistics so that we can take action and at this point all donations will be going directly towards funding all medical bills. Most importantly, perhaps to me is that your donations will help us stay focused on the healing, no matter what is required. Anis and I are grateful to everyone, and don't have better words.
Thank you so much, my family so much who is emotionally behind us 100%, and most of all I thank my sweet wife for sticking by my side through this.
Update 10/12/18: We have had a successful first surgery!
I'm in recovery today, and the surgery couldn't have gone smoother yesterday except for having to walk around post -op, it was handled very well. I'm resting in a hotel room on Oahu, just minutes from the hospital in case of complication though can safely assure all of my supporters that you helped us to do the correct thing, and we're looking forward to learning more about the pathology in the coming weeks.
Right now we don't have a good idea of what final costs will be though I thought you would appreciate knowing that we were able to pay for the hospital charge and prothesis cash, up front, before I was even put under. This was such a stress reliever, and we'll keep chipping away at the bills as they come.
Thank you all so much, this has been as good of a start to such shocking turns of events that anyone could hope for, and I'm lacking better words to show my appreciation. You all ROCK!
Update 10/24/18:
My pathology has been confirmed to be an extremely rare form of cancer known as Spermatocystic Seminoma. While the odds are amazingly low of contracting this disease--about one in 3.3 million men per year are diagnosed with it--the good news is that it's highly treatable.
We are in limbo here at 13 days post-op and still have not received helped for oncology. The medical system here is really that bad off. What we hope will happen today is that I'll get scheduled with an oncologist who can officially stage my cancer, and formulate the complete treatment plan. This may involve chemotherapy and radiation therapy, or if we're very lucky it might just be monitoring and testing for five years to declare being completely healed.
I'm still very uncomfortable in my groin and I'm nauseated, running a constant low-grade fever, and have no appetite. I've lost 28lbs in the past five weeks. We had to go out of our way to get treatment for pain management, and are staying at home with ice packs and resting as much as possible. The surgery site is healing well, and we're really looking forward to getting some answers soon.
Thank you again to everyone who's helped in any way as this has been a terrifying and excruciating experience, and unfortunately this might just be the beginning of the journey. We'll keep you posted with the data as it arrives.
Update 10/26/18:
We've finally been seen by the oncology team of North Hawaii Community Hospital and further tests have confirmed the success of my first surgery. I've officially been diagnosed as stage 1 and at this point will need CT scans and lab work for the next three years to confirm that there is no metastases, and after three years they will be able to declare my cancer cured.
THANK YOU, and if you're able to make any contributions or share this campaign with someone please do as we're beginning to get hit with the bills that we haven't already paid for from the past month's ordeal. This sucks of course and I'll be able to work we think by late November, so every drop helps us to maintain a normal lifestyle during this healing phase.
Peach and Aloha to you all,
Carl and Anis Miller
Organizer
Carl Miller
Organizer
Kapaau, HI
