-
The Meaning of Suffering
I'll try to reign in the philosophical babble that I do. Understanding I can't really be helped right now. Mental illness and cancer is a wicked cocktail. Along with gastroparesis and tinnitus among other things. I'm scheduled to have surgery on May 9th. Having all of or parts of my pancreas, spleen, small intestines,…
-
There's always something new on the horizon
I came accross this article about the potential of ultrasound to treat colorectal metastises. I post not suggesting this is a viable treatment, but just to suggest that there are hundreds of treatments under examination and perhaps buying a few extra years of survival will help us to see new and hopefully better…
-
Severe back pain —on chemo?
Hello Crew, I developed severe upper back pain after the 3rd cycle of Folfiri of avastin. MRI is fine and I suspect it is related. They feel that my muscles can get very tighT, produce an occasional spam, enter a contraction but can deconstruct tgemselves. The pain can hit 8 and as soon as it goes above 6 or 7 Percocet is…
-
Immunity Therapy Clinic, Lonsurf, whats next?
My husband is trying to decide the next plan for Stage IV colon cancer. The doctors next treatment plan is Lonsurf. There wasn't too many recent discussions about Lonsurf. Among other treatments he is looking into Immunity Therapy Clinic in Mexico. It all sounds good, looks good, but it is also probably too good to be…
-
Blood on surface of stool and very weird stool shape (help!)
Hi everyone, I am Robert. In the past year, I found several times bright red blood stripe the one side surface of my stool. I went to see a doctor for this. The doctor did sigmoidoscopy and found nothing. As bleeding continued (not so often, about two to three continuous days per month), I went to see doctor again. This…
-
Cancer has taken almost everything now
Sorry, this is just a whine but this is the only place where people really understand about cancer and what it does. I just found out an hour ago that I owe over $10,000 for business taxes from the business I had to sell because I got cancer. We do not have that kind of money and just get by every month due to me not…
-
Am I Doing The Right Thing?
I am still in such deep thought at times about this mop-up chemo. I am not quite 8 weeks out from my liver and colon resection. I am scheduled to start the first of 7 Folfox cycles left in my treatment on Tuesday. I keep telling myself "you got this", but there are times, I'm not so sure. When the path came back on the…
-
Manapart
I've been thinking about you and wondered how you were doing. Is surgery still scheduled for May 9th? Kim
-
HAI pump
To all those who have had metastasis to the liver and had the HAI pump installed, I would love to hear your stories. I am now a candidate for a HAI pump. I will be visiting Sloan Kettering to review this option in the coming weeks. I am eager to learn much about this option so that I can make my appointment the most…
-
8 years and counting!
Hey all you awesome Semi-colons! August 6 was my 8 years anniversary of my dx. I just wanted to come on here and share the relative longevity of life after cancer! For those who don't know my story, I was dx'ed with Stage III sigmoid colon cancer, lymph positive (2/19), zero mets, and did NOT do a lick of chemo. I opted…
-
Any chemo for life people here?
Yep, I heard it from my local oncologist and an MD Anderson doctor. They think it will be either FU5 plus Avastin or Zeloda plus Avastion that is basically the same s&&&. Trying to comfort me that there may be breaks. If you’d some how long they usually last? Hard to smallow those news.........Butt.
-
Elevated Chromogranin A, brand new diagnosis
Input requested. My spouse had a recent colonoscopy and biopsy results came back, "neuroendocrine cancer. " After Chromogranin A level came back 195, his (new) Oncologist repeated lab and it came back LOW. Today, Oncologists repeated blood work. Husband has family history of prostate cancer (father) and pancreatic cancer…
-
I read an interesting article today.
I often come to this site when I am really down and depressed. I need to see something positive from those who are going through what I am going through. I am stage IV. And I wanted to share infromation about an interesting article that I read today on medicalnewstoday.com. "Cancer: 'Off-the-shelf' stem cell treatment…
-
I had a bit of a crazy week
I'm not sure if anyone else has had an experience like this, so I thought I would share. This past Monday I had about 20 minutes of what felt like something crawling around in my chest. I've had PVCs before (your heart beats a little out of sequence or something, feels like it skips a beat) and I thought it was probably…
-
First Available appt in May
I was accepted as a patient at MSK. My appt is in May. Does anyone know if that "your on the call if appt becomes available" list actually happens? That seems so long. I know that my cancer grows slow, but still. I don't know if I should be happy to have the extra 5 weeks to be "normal", or worried that it is growing and…
-
Stage 2A colon cancer Chemo or Surveillance?
-
Remission
Just curious. When exactly does the remission start? Does it start after your last dose of chemo? Or is it from the result of your 1st follow-up scan after the chemo? I think it should start after your 1st scan result.
-
Question about maintenance therapy
Has anyone ever been offered or have used Strivarga as a maintenance drug?? im not doing well on xeloda; hand and foot really bad. We’re currently lowering the dose to see how it goes. If my condition doesnt improve my options are to go back on the pump for 5 FU. Strivarga was also suggested, but honestly i thought that…
-
Any Different After a Break?
Hey guys. I am amazed at how much easier the soreness has been in the past couple of days for me. Six weeks was the magic turning pointl. I still hurt and my energy is not the same but I am in so much more of a better place than I was a week or so ago. I was wondering about the second round of chemo I will start soon. Once…
-
Folfiri and avastin chemo
Hello Group - I have recently been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma colorectal cancer with several mets to my liver. Will be starting folfiri and avastin chemo. Would anyone who has had folfiri and/or avastin, please post with their treatment, side effects, or suggestions. Thank you so much. Well wishes for everyone. Bellen
-
Stage 2A to Stage 4
Hi everyone, I was NED for 3 years, and my recent CT scan showed a new growth in my liver. When i was diagnosed in 2016 we decided on 6 sessions of chemo and 5 weeks of radiation after my surgery. My Oncologist told me I was considered stage 4 now, and we dont know what the plan of attack is until i get a PET and MRI. Has…
-
Targeted Drugs
Does anyone have experience with targeted drugs? I am currently between treatments while we find something to work at killing the two new lung lesions since they grew on folfox. Since I have been off chemo for 3 weeks, the lesions are still small (biggest is 1.1 cm) and I am realtively healthy, my oncologist wants me to go…
-
Looking for answers
I don't mean to be a damper on anyone else's battle with colorectal cancer, but I've just lost my wife to it and I'm looking for support groups... and answers. She was diagnosed stage IV in July 2017. It was a "right-sided" cancer, with the primary tumor in her transverse colon. By July 2018 they stopped trying to treat…
-
Ostomy help
Richard is recovering well from the surgery! I am learning and trying my best with changing the bag. i Am worried I am doing this all wrong and going to cause him more issues. today there was redness. It looks like the pouch is not sticking to the skin. His stomach is more inward. I looked in our goody bag from the…
-
New to this
Hi! 1/31 Colonoscopy - I had been passing blood. 5 inch tumor. Nothing else lit up in the CT scan done that day except a very teeny tiny spot on my lung. 2/25 Colon resection. Was in the hospital for 10 days due to complications post-op. Stage 3b - 1 lymph node. Oncologist visited me in the hospital and said he wasn’t…
-
fear over narcotic pain meds
It's been a while since i've posted here. I've been away from the board doing all kinds of fun things like swallowing Xeloda pills and laying inside a radiation machine. I have nine more treatments left before I get some time off to recuporate before surgery. For about three quarters of the radiation treatment I did well.…
-
I am not a Survivor
Ill try to make this brief. Rattling the cage, only annoys people. Theres no way out and venting doesn't help. I am not a survivor. I am not a fighter. I never will be. I have spent the last two months of my life trying to find the internal resources within me to have the courage and strength to fight cancer. Its not…
-
Another major surgery
We met with my surgeon this morning. After a discussion and an update on where things stand now, we’ve got a plan of action. First, we’re not doing anything about the fluid collection right away. I’ll continue taking dilaudid as needed. We also talked about the various surgeries to lower my risk of further cancers as a…
-
Surgery scheduled
So I finally got in for my MRI on Monday, and the results were good (or is it just not bad?). The CT in February was also normal. Today I had an appointment with the surgeon, and she said because the scan results showed no evidence of disease the plan would be for no chemoradiation before surgery and if lymph nodes test…
-
Hall Pass For Two More Weeks...
I got back to my moutain place yesterday. After having labs drawn (all looked good), I hit the road. It has been six weeks since surgery. Honestly, this weekend was the first time I actually thought I might turn the corner on this. This surgery was no picnic and I NEVER want to go thru anything like it again. I lost about…