Sep 26 2024 28 mins
When Celeste Guptill noticed her stomach appearing swollen to an unusual degree, she thought it might be due some sort of gastrointestinal issue. However, a CT scan showed she a tumor that produced a fluid called mucin, which produced the swelling. The tumor was surgically removed, which led to a diagnosis of pseduomyxoma peritonei, a rare form of appendix cancer. She needed a second surgery, called HIPEC, which includes heated chemotherapy. The recovery from the chemotherapy was much than the procedure itself, but Celeste achieved survivorship, and has happily gone back to being a mother of eleven.
Celeste Guptill of Keizer, Oregon had just had her tenth child and was posing for a family photo shoot. Upon seeing the photo, she noticed that her stomach area seemed more swollen than usual. At first, she thought she this was a result of aging, as she was turning 40, that or something gastrointestinal. But she could feel something abnormal in her stomach and decided to get it checked. That led to a CI scan, which revealed a tumor. Celeste’s primary care physician referred her to a gynecologist, who said she couldn’t treat the tumor because it appeared cancerous. She next saw an oncologist at Oregon Health Sciences University in nearby Portland, who said the tumor needed to be surgically removed and biopsied to find out what kind of cancer it was.
At first, doctors thought it was ovarian cancer, but after the biopsy, they couldn’t figure out what type it was. They eventually confirmed it was pseduomyxoma peritonei, a rare form of appendix cancer, also known as PMP. They initially proposed a hysterectomy, because without one, the cancer could spread, but Celeste opposed the idea, and the idea of the hysterectomy was shelved.
Celeste located a PMP specialist at MD Anderson in Houston, and decided to get treated there. After a six-month waiting period, she underwent a step procedure called HIPEC. It included what is known as heated chemotherapy, administered while under a general anesthetic. The procedure removed most of the omentum, where a lot of abdominal cancers originate. They go in and scrape, remove everything cancerous, then seal the area back up.
Celeste said the recovery was very painful. She had tubes in her, through which surgical debris was removed, she was creeped out by her normally dry skin becoming “greasy and waxy,” and she experienced some hair loss. However, the doctor said the surgery was a success, as it was able to remove all of the cancer.
Celeste Guptill has achieved survivorship, claiming that physically she can do everything she could do prior to her diagnosis. Because she did not have her uterus removed, she went on to have an eleventh child, which she calls her miracle baby.
Additional Resources:
Support Group:
PMP Pals: https://pmppals.net