Doctors caught rare cancer by looking for the zebra

"Thank God for the kidney stones" isn't a phrase one typically expects to hear -- but Jennifer Goff said they may have saved her life.

The 21-year-old nursing and EMT student said she was rushed to the MedCentral/Shelby Hospital emergency room last August with severe back pain. Doctors told Goff she had already passed kidney stones, but a CT scan would show she wasn't out of the woods yet.

"It showed a tumor, but they said an MRI would give a better picture," Goff's mother Lynn Shafer said.

The next day, an MRI confirmed a 3.5-centimeter tumor on her daughter's pancreas.

"So many people, like Jen, discover it because of other issues. There is a lot of misdiagnosis out there. There is probably no other way to detect this besides a CT scan," Shafer said. "But they told us they believed it was benign because of her age."

With that in mind, the family couldn't believe the news Goff recently received.

"I was going to pick up my sister when the doctor called," Goff said, noting that her doctor had previously asked her to come in, but she had requested to be informed over the phone. "He told me I had cancer."

Specifically, she has a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a rare subgroup of tumors found in the pancreas. Goff said she pulled her car into the Shelby Duke and Duchess station.

"It sounded like he wasn't talking right. I couldn't really make out what he was saying," she said, tears filling her eyes. "Then, when it actually hit me, I had to have him repeat everything so I could write it down.

"I kept repeating, 'I have cancer. I have cancer. I have cancer.' He was very nice and told me this is curable. I just needed to get into the right hands."

Goff wasn't comforted.

"I just sat there and tried to figure out how I was going to tell my mom," she said. "I called her at work and asked when she was going to be home because I didn't want to tell her over the phone -- but she could tell something was wrong, because she's Mom."

Shafer tried to comfort her daughter.

"I told her it was going to be OK and that we would get through this," Shafer said. "I work in Marion though, and that drive home seemed to take forever."

Goff said she immediately began researching her cancer.

"There are only 1,500 cases in the U.S. diagnosed in a year, though they've found many more on autopsies," Goff said.

Today is Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day.

"It's only the second annual -- that's how new this is," Goff said.

The ribbon designated to this particular cancer is zebra striped, which signifies thinking outside of the box -- when you hear horse hooves, don't immediately think horse. It could be a zebra.

"We say, 'Thank God for the kidney stones,' because if it wasn't for them we may have not discovered this until much later," Shafer said. "Early detection is key."

Goff finished her last week of work until after recovery, which is expected to be about eight weeks. She also had to quit school.

She was more than halfway through the paramedic program, but must start back at the beginning when she is able to return.

"I've just been spending a lot of time with my family and my daughter," she said. "I keep telling myself I have to do this and get through this for her."

Goff recently saw an oncologist, which turned out to be one of the biggest blessings so far.

"Until I saw her, I couldn't sleep. I was having nightmares. I was waking up crying. Every night I'd lay down to sleep, all the negative stuff would come in," Goff said. "But seeing the oncologist really cleared up the unknown. I think more positively now. I keep telling myself, 'No, this is not going to come back.' "

A visit to the James Cancer Center on Monday in Columbus determined Goff will have surgery at the end of November. Through it all, she remains positive and continues to count her blessings.

"I've learned not to take life for granted and to be thankful for what I have because you just never know what lies ahead. I have a super family and friends and I know I'm going to get through this," she said. "And I'm grateful for the oncologist -- who looked for the zebra instead of the horse."

Why Climate-Related Heat Waves Will Be Bad for Your Health

The start of summer officially kicked off on Tuesday at 1.16 pm ET with the beginning of the summer solstice and the Northern Hemisphere's longest day of the year. That day, the Northern Hemisphere absorbed more sunlight than it has or will have on any other day of 2011. Our planet will release that sunlight in the coming weeks in what will hopefully not be a repeat of summer 2010 – the year of record-high summer temperatures in the Northeast – because if this forthcoming study in Climatic Change is anything to go by, scorching temperatures this summer could bring a lot worse than sweaty brows and frizzy hair.

The study, conducted by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University and the National Center for Climatic Research, identifies a number of illnesses and health conditions exacerbated by unrelenting heat, including diabetes, urinary tract and renal diseases such as kidney stones, respiratory conditions, accidents and even suicide attempts. For every 2 degrees the mercury in your thermometer rises over 85 Fahrenheit, hospital admissions for conditions such as diabetes and kidney disorders are predicted to rise by 13 percent.

“Unlike previous studies, we identified threshold temperatures for several health outcomes beyond which disease rates will increase rapidly,” Bo Li, the lead author of the study, said in a statement.

The researchers also forecast increased incidence of heat-sensitive illnesses and conditions in tandem with predicted warming and its accompanying intense and frequent heat waves for the years between 2059-2070. Hospital admissions for heat-related conditions under one well-studied climate change scenario will increase by seven percent over time, according to the study's senior author Jonathan Patz, and hospitals and public agencies will need to plan accordingly. And stay inside with the air-conditioning on if you're under five or over 85 – the study found that the very young and the very old are at the biggest risk for hospitalization during heat waves.

PlayStation Network Up and Running Again

Sony’s PlayStation Network service in the United States and Europe is partially restored, after being shut nearly a month ago due to a massive security breach affecting over 100 million online accounts.

Operations are currently limited to online gaming, chat, and music streaming services. Sony told the Associated Press it plans on fully restoring the network by the end of May.

A phased restoration of its Qriocity movie and music services which shares PlayStation Network’s server also began Sunday according to Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka. 

Limited services will also resume in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Middle East, and Sony plans on restoring service in Asia as well.

The popular PlayStation Network links users worldwide in live play. The system was shut down on April 20 after a hacker attack was discovered. Personal data, including credit card numbers, was at stake, but Sony said Sunday it had not received any reports of illegal fraudulent activity.