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Colorectal Cancer

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…
Still has pain
Well Jim is still in a lot of pain. Tomorrow he is having an EDG done to check for an ulcer. I have begun to lose faith in the doctor that did his Y-90. He told us only 2% of patients could develop an ulcer, but I am reading 26% in studies....Which is it? Not that it matters really, the damage has been done, but I think he…
Steroid Receptor
So as a result of my chemo, I developed dry eye syndrome. I tried many OTC eye drops and nothing helped. I finally went to the optometrist and they prescribed steroid eye drops and anti-bacterial gel. I did that for a week and went back for a follow up. when you go to the optometrist, the first thing they do is an eye…
Visit to Surgeon - Another 4 Months
We went to see surgeon yesterday in hopes of obtaining date to have reversal surgery done on ileostomy. Should of known it would be something else that doctors neglect to inform their patients about. We now have to wait until mop up chemo is complete which will be middle of July as surgeon cannot perform surgery while…
How to Motivate Someone to Get Better?
My husband has been fantastic through all of this cancer crap I've gone through. He's taken care of me like a parent does when I've been bedridden or unable to leave the house. He's never been good about making meals because he and I eat very differently. There are some things we agree on but he likes spicy and fattening…
Surgery vs Cyber knife liver and lung
My sister has multiple smallish metastasis lighting up and liver and lungs. Her oncologist went to the tumor board and his thoughts were surgery on the liver and cyber knife on the lung with another round of big chemo afterwards. Yesterday my sister and I went to see the liver surgeon and had our first appointment with a…
Some sort of PTSD
Is this just me? No matter what I am going in for, chemo, scan results, whatever, I always have this fear in the back of my mind that he is going to tell me something is horribly wrong, and I must be hospitalized immediately, or that I have 2 weeks to live, or something along those lines. I am wondering if it is just me,…
CA19-9
has anyone had this tumor marker test done? For some reason my husband’s oncologist ran it, came back fine at 20 under 34 or maybe it was 37 is normal. it has not been tested before so I have nothing to gauge it against. He doesn’t see her for a month so he won’t ask her until then, maybe it’s because the bile duct tumor…
Anti-inlfammatory?
I have been having quite a bit of leg pain lately, possibly sciatica, or a different pinched nerve. I used to take aspirin liberally, but I have been warned to limit my use because of the risk of bleeding post-surgery. I tried iburprofen, but post-chemo, it caused some weird symptoms, so that is out. Prednisone is…
In remission or false hope
My wife is stage IV colon cancer with 2 suspected metastasize lymph nodes by the aorta. After 8 chemo cycle with 1 additional cycle thrown in, her 4th Pet scan last Wednesday (in 10 months) finally showed no convincing evidence of FDG-avid malignancy or metastatic disease. She was praying and hoping for this. Her…
Percentage question
I have a friend that had breast cancer about 7 years ago. She hasn't had a recurrance. She told me she's scared because her oncologist said there's a 50% chance it will come back. Here's my question. We all have an almost 50% chance of getting cancer including people that don't have it now. So doesn't that mean that she no…
The Big Talk Is Tomorrow
I am headed to SC tomorrow to meet with my oncologist to discuss mopup chemo and where I go from here. What a ride this has been. It has definitely made me think twice about how quick life can change on the spin of a dime. I was going to leave on Saturday but woke up having horrible pain and knew I could never make the…
Two Years
Two years ago I faced surgery for an obstructive tumor in my colon. I did not know if I would live to see another Spring (my favorite season, despite the allergies). After surgery, the results came back stage IIIb, and I did a single treatment with oxaliplatin, which I discontinued, and four months of capecitabine…
Therapist strongly suggested Hospice
Needless to say, I'm blown away and it's not helping me to climb out of the black hole that my Oncologist put me in with his harsh portrayal of my situation. No one can tell me that he could not have sounded so negative and dire. He crushed my spirit. I have felt like giving up and just way more physically sick since I saw…
Ostomy bag covers
Has anyone made their own? I'm going to try it. I got a pattern off of the internet and I'll see if it works or is not worth it. If anyone has any tips for making these I'd really appreciate it! Maybe I'm better off just buying a few that are premade, I'll see. Thanks! Jan
Lonsurf or Time to look for a Trial?
Hi, This is the first time I have been on this forum. My husband was diagnosed with Stage IV Colon Cancer with Mets to the liver in December of 2015. He is amazing! He has never given up because he wants to be here for our family, and he continues to work full-time because he loves his job. He has had over seventy chemo…
CT Scan results, 2 months after last Y90 very bad
Saw my Oncologist yesterday, he brought the hammer down! He was grim and tried to take every last bit of my hope. My scan results were bad indeed. I have spots all in my lungs now, I only had a couple of tiny ones before. There was a lot of new dark areas in my liver. The doctor actually told me that the two Y90 treatments…
Chronic diaherra
I am six years out from surgery for colo rectal cancer. Have had chronic diaherra every since. Some days are worse than others. I have a kidney nephrostomy tube in my right kidney as my right urerter has a large stricture in it from radiation. This keeps me from swimming which is what I was doing before the tube. Now I…
Still waiting
So my initial diagnosis was over a month ago, and I'm still waiting for the staging to be done. Colonoscopy was 2/12, 0.9cm polyp removed from rectum near sigmoid. "The talk" with my GI was 2/19. CT scan (good news there) was 2/20. Initial consult with surgeon was scheduled for 2/27 but went completely sideways when I got…
APR Bladder question
Richard had the APR last Tuesday. He the catheter was removed Saturda. He was unable to go after 6 hours so the cathed him again. They also started flomax. the catheter was removed this morning at midnight. He was able to go little around 10:30am. an ultrasound showed he still had a lot of urine in the bladder. So he is…
Ostomy Bag and Gas
I've had my illeostomy for just over 5 years now. I've never had a problem with gas or noises. I've had the odd time where it's made a noise or filled with gas but it's been few and far between. Suddenly, in the past two weeks it's really noisy and makes some very clear fart noises several times a day. And gurgling noises…
Back in the ER
wrll, my troublesome back pain that was a symptom of my last liver abscess is back. Since it’s gotten worse over the last two weeks and now it hurts to take a deep breath and I’m not getting as deep a breath, my oncologist suggested heading to the ER to get checked out. So I’m now comfortable in the ER after a dose of…
Some good news
I figured I would share some good news. Today is the start of my last chemo round! It’s been a long 8 months for sure. Next up is new scans and blood work in mid March for a new baseline. If they’re clear, we’ll meet with surgery a few weeks later to start planning my total colectomy and my hysterectomy. My oncologist is…

Colorectal Cancer

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