Liver cancer

A couple of months ago I asked for information about good liver cancer resources on behalf of a friend and coworker of mine. Some of you were very helpful, particularly Derek Lowe.

It's over now - he died Tuesday, on his 42nd birthday, leaving a wife and two preteen kids. It was fast too - I didn't suspect a thing until he started missing work for chemo in February.

The visitation was last night (Friday, 6/14). It had been going on for two and a half hours when I got there and I still had to park two blocks away and wait in line for an hour. The makeup couldn't hide the fact that this man looked like he had aged 40 years in 4 months.

The following clips come from this:

People with a history of cirrhosis, malnutrition, and/or chronic hepatitis B infection are at greater risk than the general population for developing liver cancer.

What are the symptoms?:

Sometimes people have no symptoms at all and are discovered to have a liver tumor during evaluation for some other physical complaint. More often, people complain of feeling tired and many describe a dull aching pain in the upper right side of their abdomen. Other symptoms include a sense of fullness in the abdomen, loss of appetite, loss of weight, fever, nausea, and jaundice.

I don't know if my friend or his doctor missed warning signs. But you had better not.