Thank you so much. I am amazed. Your kindness is well much appreciated. Roberta

Dear Teresa, I appreciate your finding a cancer support group in Phoenix for me. The one you found is a community, and I am going to get involved with them if it is possible. They are not to far from where I live as well. I wanted to say to you also that I am interested in hearing about your life and your journey with cancer. I did not respond to that in my first posts. If you would like to do that. Roberta

@birdy48 Hi Roberta: I'm glad to hear that the group I mentioned in my last post was close by. If you need any information about other groups, let me know. There were several listed in Phoenix. You asked about my journey with cancer and it has been a unique one that started in 2003. It is a rare form of malignancy called neuroendocrine tumors (also called carcinoids). They are so rare that the disorder is listed on the Orphan Disease list. I have had surgery for them three times. They are not typical cancers but very slow growing, therefore surgery is the answer for them. They generally cannot be seen with traditional x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, etc. A special scan, called an Octreoscan is used. They do not respond to traditional chemotherapies or radiation. Traditional cancer treatments like chemo and radiation are meant to stop the process of the cell division of regular cancers and does work with a slow growing cancer. Carcinoids usually form in the gastrointestinal tract as mine did. I'm fortunate that most have been found while quite small if they get large they metastasize, usually into the liver. I'm fortunate that has not been my case. Well that is my story (the short version). Thanks for asking! Best wishes and let me know how the support group works out for you! It's nice to have you as an online friend at Mayo Connect. Teresa