Zebras

The zebra is the symbol used for carcinoid cancer awareness.  We first learned about this when we read a book called Zebras and Stardust which was written by my new friend, Mary Girsch-Bock, about her sister's struggle with the disease.  Mer found the book online soon after his diagnosis, and it really helped us understand this type of cancer.

Dr. Woltering was the one who came up with the zebra idea, and there are all kinds of zebra things in his clinic.

The reason a zebra is associated with carcinoid cancer is because generally, when people hear hoof-beats they think the sound must be coming from wild horses.  However, sometimes instead it turns out to be a herd of zebras.

Many patients with carcinoid cancer are misdiagnosed for many years because the doctors they visit think the symptoms they're having must be due to something else.  I read that doctors are taught in medical school to look for horses (or common problems) first instead of looking for zebras (things that are rare or out of the ordinary).  This has led to a lot of suffering for many carcinoid patients.

We feel very blessed that Merlynn's cancer was discovered early by a wise primary care physician.  We were also happy when we heard from Dr. Boudreaux (the surgeon who will most likely perform Merlynn's surgery) that since 40% of his liver has tumors and he still remains symptom free, he probably will never get the debilitating side-effects so many others do.

I can already tell by the way Merlynn's been talking today that he's probably going to opt for the surgery.  He's been trying to comfort me and help me be at peace about it.  I'm not there yet!