The Summer That Changed Everything
- 01 Spring 2026
The Clues I Explained Away
The first clues were easy to explain away. The constant itching I blamed on the Texas sun and getting older. The weight loss I credited to healthier habits. Then one morning my eyes were yellow, and there was no explaining that away.
- 02 July 17, 2026
They Found A Mass
My yellow eyes got me sent straight for blood work, and those results set off every alarm bell. From there it was on to the hospital for imaging. A CT scan, an ultrasound, and an MRI found the reason. There was a mass in my bile duct.
- 03 July 21, 2026
One Day Became A Week
I was sent back to the hospital to undergo an ERCP, a procedure meant to get a closer look at the mass and take a sample of it. Instead there was a complication, and one day in the hospital became a week. Bile duct tumors sit in a hard place to reach, and it took several attempts over several procedures before my team could get a sample good enough to test.
- 04 July 30, 2026
It Finally Had A Name
The biopsy results came back, and the mass finally had a name. Cholangiocarcinoma. It looked like early stage, and nothing pointed to my lymph nodes, though more testing would tell us for sure. We crossed our fingers. Scary words and hopeful words in the same breath.
- 05 August 2026
Where I Am Today
My care team is in place. MD Anderson is heading my care, in coordination with UT Austin and the Texas Liver Institute. With something this rare, experience matters, and now I have it on my side. The rest of this story unfolds in the journal.
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What I Want You To Take From This
Push for answers. If your body is telling you something is wrong, keep asking until someone listens. Rare does not mean impossible, and early does not happen by accident. It happens because somebody kept pushing.