Am I dying?

I've been on Healing Well before in the Crohn's Disease forum so I know this is the best place on earth to come for moral support, and boy do I need it!

It's true I've had Crohn's for about 8 years now and I would normally just head over to that forum, but something new has come up.

Starting around Christmas time I starting feeling really sick. This is nothing new for me, I thought it was just another flare up, in fact it's so mundane I just took extra pain medication, stayed in bed a little more and ate a little less. I made an appointment to see my doctor after Christmas in the middle of Jan. I wasn't too worried. I did notice that my urine was really dark like coca cola colored and didn't smell too good, so I drank more water, I thought it was cause I wasn't eating much. I noticed that I was really itchy all the time, but I had just changed my laundry detergent so I thought it was likely allergies, and lastly I have been finding it really hard to concentrate and think clearly, but I'd just started a new medication for depression which was known to cause that as a side effect, never mind that depression can make it hard to concentrate. Needless to say, I wasn't worried in fact I was really happy about the 60 lbs I'd lost.

Then I went for routine blood work. My doctor called my home 5 times to make sure I came in to see her the day she got my test results. I don't know what they were but I guess my liver function tests where so far through the roof, she said she'd never seen results that bad where the person wasn't being treated intensively in the hospital, and how tough was I anyway? I just shrugged and said I'm used to being sick, so I don't let it keep me from living anymore. Anyway she booked me for an ultrasound, the earliest I could get in was a week later (good old Canada) and my blood work was monitored every 2 days all week. During the week my liver enzymes did come down slightly, which prompted her to think perhaps i just had a gallstone blockage and the crisis was over.

Today I had the ultrasound. They called in a doctor to do it, instead of the usual technician. Very unusual to say the least. They found a 6 inch hemangioma (tumor). The doctor who did the test told me that many people have these types of tumors their entire lives and never have a problem, but that in all her years of practice she had NEVER seen one like mine, and it quote "didn't look good". I looked hemangioma up on line and the average size of the benign tumor is 1-5 cm (0.4 to 2 inch). So I'm kinda freaking out here. If anyone has time to respond this evening. If you know anything about what's going on with me, what to watch for, what to ask my doctor tomorrow when I see my gp. Am I scared about nothing, jumping to wrong conclusions? Help!

Oh Sylph I am so sorry to hear about this. Ask your doctor if a biopsy is an option for you. A CT scan with contrast may be another option . (The cancer will light up like a Christmas tree). The biopsy is the most reliable. Either way you do need to find out for sure and start a plan of action to fight it if it indeed cancer. Good luck and keep us updated. We have a very wonderful group of people of this forum with a lot of experiance with many types of liver disease. Thoughts and prayers will be with you.

Sylph, I know that you must feel absolutely terrified and I can only imagine how truly scared you are. I just wanted to say a little bit about the fear you are experiencing OK? Fear can rule you if you let it as you know. On the otherhand without having all the facts given to you from the Dr's it's almost impossible to not be ruled by fear. I wonder how they know for certain that they are tumors and not cysts? I am not doubting their diagnosis but curious as to how they are certain and based on what? I know you had an ultrasound done but they are far from conclusive. Without a biopsy to verify what they are I question it. They will undoubtably order CT scans, MRIs, and a biopsy. Then they will know definitively what you are dealing with. After they determine WHAT is is they will get you an appointment with a specialist and offer a treatment plan to you. All this takes time so you must be patient. In the meantime I would try to research a little on the internet. The problem being that you can't be sure what exactly to research right? Well, I think I would start with looking into benign liver tumors, treatment, etc. BTW when they say "average size" anything (including tumors) that doesn't mean that lots of people haven't had a larger tumor than what is listed on the internet. It simply means that the Dr's have seen smaller ones on a more common basis. Please keep that in mind as that's an important issue here. It is also important that you learn as much as you can so when all the tests are completed and you have a firm diagnosis you will know what the Dr is talking about. That way you can ask pertinent questions and understand the Dr's answers. Hope this helps a little.

 Shelly