A 43-year-old man diagnosed with advanced cancer says he mistook his illness for the flu.
– It all started with fever and chills, but they always passed, so I did not pay attention to it. Then my back started to hurt. I went to a chiropractor who was helpful at first. Then, about a week later, I fell to the floor in the living room, because the pain in my back suddenly became unbearable,, the man shared.
Miller was immediately hospitalized. The examination showed that he had a massive spinal abscess and a pelvic abscess.
The patient's physician, head of colorectal surgery Charles Friel, told the Express that the initial diagnosis was unclear.
“We knew he had sepsis that had spread to his spine. This became an immediate problem. Our medical team met to discuss the possibility of treating the infection with drainage and antibiotics, but the infection was too severe, he noted.
The patient looked very ill.
“When I first saw him, he looked like a man about to die. His body was trying to fight off a severe infection; he had hypotension, the number of leukocytes was increased; he was extremely weak and, in fact, became paralyzed. Without treatment, the next likely step would be death. What was particularly challenging and highly unusual in Mr. Miller's case was the extent of his spinal infection, the medic said.
The infections are usually limited to smaller segments of the spine, he said. In these cases, doctors remove the bone and ligaments and then replace them with rods and screws. However, in this case, the infection was in the entire spine, from the base of the skull to the coccyx.
Miller had pieces of bone and ligaments removed from every other vertebrae, from the base of his skull to his tailbone, to relieve compression and eliminate a massive infection while still maintaining mobility. After spinal surgery, he could not move and was completely paralyzed. After some time, he began to move around in a wheelchair.
Extensive evaluation, including endoscopy and CT scans, showed that the cause of Miller's life-threatening spinal infection was rectal cancer, also known as colorectal cancer or bowel cancer . The disease has gone too far – stage 4, with liver metastases.
“His tumor broke through, causing an abscess,” the doctor notes.
After recovering from infectious complications, Miller began systemic therapy. After six full cycles of chemotherapy, a repeat CT scan showed a significant disease response and the decision was made to continue with six more cycles. Then the tumor was removed, the treatment was long.
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Surprisingly, as noted in the article, Miller has almost completely recovered from infectious complications and is in stable remission.
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Important! Information provided for reference purposes. Ask a specialist about contraindications and side effects and under no circumstances self-medicate. At the first sign of illness, consult a doctor.