A Blessing in Disguise

In September, Dennis Micko’s visit to Brookings Hospital for a Crohn’s Disease episode was a blessing in disguise; all thanks to the imaging technology available. 

After Dennis was admitted to the emergency department, the care team performed an ultrasound to figure out what was going on. On that ultrasound, the team noticed spots on his liver which raised concern going forward with his stay.

A spot, or spots, on the liver will appear different from the rest of the liver tissue and can mean a number of things. Infections, inflammatory reactions and various types of noncancerous and cancerous tumors can emerge as such. 

“Outside of those spots I have a real healthy liver, so it was a little bit unique,” said Dennis. 

Following the ultra sound, Dr. Matt Bien ordered two computerized tomography (CT) scans and a magnetic resonance image (MRI) to obtain more detailed images that would better determine what the spots were from.

When the results came back the spots were declared cancerous. Thanks in part to the imaging procedures offered at Brookings Health System, Dennis was able to catch a potentially deadly cancer in the early stages when it’s more treatable.

“It’s just nice to know that there’s the kind of care and expertise locally,” said Dennis.

Generally, a person experiencing the early stages of liver cancer won’t even know they are. Symptoms disguise themselves until the cancer is further advanced, sometimes too far advanced to treat. 

“I probably would’ve never known of the liver spots that were identified had I not had the Crohn’s episode,” said Dennis. “I had no symptoms from the liver disease at all.” 

After the diagnosis, Dennis was shifted over to Avera’s liver transplant team where he was put through a series of tests to be placed on the liver transplant list. 

Although Dennis’s stay at Brookings Health System was only six days, the kindhearted staff and care he received was second to none. 

“The one thing I observed more than anything was just how caring people were at Brookings Hospital.”

Want to know more? Listen to Dennis tell his story online at brookingshealth.org/DennisMicko.