WTF, Sheboygan?

I was just about to recycle my latest Froedtert Cancer Clinic magazine (I had my first surgery at Froedtert, an excellent facility with first class doctors), but I thought I'd best thumb through it and see wazzup with cancer.

And guess what--the magazine featured a profile of a Sheboygan resident. Suffering from abdominal pains last April 2010, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She sought a second opinion at Froedtert (no details of where her first diagnosis was) and they said "hmmm...this is not something that started in the cervix or ovaries...something weird here, let's see." After surgery to remove several tumors, yep, you guessed it. Appendix cancer. Signet ring cell.

She had the HIPEC treatment after that. I'm going to call her and meet her.

Many thoughts in my head--another initial misdiagnosis, nice catch by the great folks at Froedtert, and good work by Dr. Sam Pappas and the others down there in Milwaukee (it is great that they are building an expertise in this area). Of course, wow, more Sheboygan. That is four Sheboyganites I know who have fought this disease in the past 6 years.

It's an under-diagnosed disease. If any of you know any women diagnosed with ovarian or cervical cancer, insist that they have their doctor look for signs of appendix cancer. And anyone that has colon cancer that doesn't seem to act like like "normal" colon cancer should consider whether appendix cancer is the culprit.