need encouraging words to print for friend...

Dearest Friend of Pat
I understand from Pat that you are facing a liver resection. You have done a great job with chemo and your CEA is lookin good.

Please remember that YOU CAN DO THIS!! if an old broad like me can do it.....you can do it.
I am a firm believer in the power of surgery to heal these liver mets....maybe a little more chemo or whatever it takes but you can do it.

Perhaps Pat will keep us in the loop so we can help with recovery from the surgery.....

keep fighting and keep the faith....

best of love and wishes....

mags

To: Pat and BF
Were she sitting here with me today, I would tell her first, that I'm sorry she has experienced a recurrence and has to go round again to fight this once more.

I would also tell her that recurrence is where some of the really tough cancer battles are fought and ultimately won or lost. Along with the physical side of more fighting is the emotional side of having to gear up and throw down again.

I've always felt that as cancer patients, that we should EXPECT to have a recurrence, because often times the fight is not won with the first swing. It can take a series of successive blows concurrently to get cancer runnin' the other direction.

It takes Time and Patience...in abundance...and in unity...to keep our heads together enough to allow our bodies to endure the things that we must do.

I would also say that being able to HAVE surgery is the #1 weapon she has going for her right now, besides her mind and her fighting spirit...that's a heavy duty triad...and if you've got those...well, then, you got what you need to engage in the battle and walk away from it once more.

Surgery, surgery, surgery...I'd take it 9 times out of 10...and twice on Sundays. If she needs follow-up or adjunvant therapies like radiation or chemo...I'd tell her to fire those bullets now.

The best time to get a 1/2 step on cancer is always in the early stages of the fight...I've been fortunate to have won my biggest battle of staying clear 15-months this past year...it was my 3rd time with cancer and one of the hardest, sustained periods of fighting that I've done.

So, at 8-years, you can tell her that last year I won my biggest battle late in the fight (8-yrs) and am still clear 15-months later...and counting...hoping too:)

That was after cancer 3x...it had gone to my liver and to my lungs...and after 4 major surgeries...58x radiation and 51x of chemotherapy, in all of the assorted flavor combinations.

Cancer tries to take away all that we are - and all that we ever hope to be...

But, as with any contested event in life, there will always be survivors who live to tell the tale of what they endured...

She will come out stronger in a different way than when she entered the arena...nature seems to have a way to know that if it takes away THIS - that it compensates and gives us THAT.

The secret to that mystery is that you just need to know where to look to find the changes...and I would tell her to look deep inside herself...alot of her answers and motivation will come from there...she has to spin those tumblers to unlock that combination...but once she does, she's going to find an inner strength and peace that will help her during those times of Doubt and Dread.

And lastly, tell her that I understand how it's hard to see to the end of the day when we're sick with cancer and it's treatments or recovery from surgery. It's hard to see the good...it's hard to live life to the fullest...it's just plain hard.

Cancer makes us lose our way when we can't see down the road, due to the fog that we find ourselves mired in...but if you can stay with it...the clouds do part and things can recover and we can move forward.

And I guess that's the key...hunker down and hold on during the fight...when it passes, put one foot in the other and walk as far as you can - while you can.

In the end, that's all that any of us can do.

And what we can do is tell her that and help her get along:)

Here's something for her to think on for awhile...

"Cancer is hard - but it's the Hard - that makes it Great."

It may take her awhile to get that one... but it simply means that she has cancer - and how she uses this chapter in her life, will help her be someone to someone else one day from the seeds of personal growth that she has planted in her cancer journey.

Please give her my best!

-Craig

Sloan is a fabulous place
I went there for my appendix cancer care, and found the staff to be extremely helpful and caring.

My appendix cancer journey was quite hellish - metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma of the Appendix. Sloan has the experts that can handle the rare and not-so-rare cancers, at the forefront of care. Yes, my treatment was incredibly difficult, my surgeries were no picnics, but today (aside from the unrelated blip I'm going through right now) I'm very healthy. Sloan gave me back my life.

It won't be easy. However, there is another side, and suddenly you look back, and realize you've gotten through something that you couldn't imagine you'd be able to do, even in your wildest dreams. Take it one day at a time, and ask questions. Also ask friends for help and support, and never feel guilty about needing it. You're there for others, let them be there for you.

Wishing you the best,
Alice

I have had 3 liver
I have had 3 liver resections over the course of 6 years. The last of which was the entire right lobe which is a out 65% of my liver. I have never had any complications and my liver is fully regenerated again and fuctioning like a percectly normal liver.