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Colorectal Cancer

The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After
I just finished this memoir by Julie Yip-Williams. It is a heart break and a triumph. It is a beautiful book about her struggle with metastatic colon cancer at age 38. I recommend this book to everyone, no matter what stage you have. She tells us to live every day until we can’t. i hope to have this clarity when my time is…
Thinking..thinking...and THINKING
So many of us here with so many decisions to make. I know each one of us has different lives..different stories..different fears and hopes. This massive surgery I just had left me more aware of so many things. As many of you know, I lost my husband to this god awful disease three years ago and now I have the exact same…
Waiting
I’m sitting here, with my IV and REDI CAT drink, waiting for CT Scan. Blood draw is done. This is is my 12 month scan. How fast a year goes by. If all is good my next scan might be my last.
Tips for Caregivers?
I had an earlier thread a few weeks ago about my wife who is young and recently diagnosed we found an excellent dr and are into the chemo treatments. round 3 is just around the corner this is a steep learning curve for all of us but we are managing Ive read a few threads here and other places on spouses and how to cope its…
2 years in stage 4, insurance question
Hi all, So my sister is 2 years post diagnosis. Her Cobra insurance is maxing out. From the research I've done, it looks like she might qualify for Medi-cal after 25 months of disability. Does anyone know about this? She is only 43. I think her latest paperwork sent into disability said she wouldn't be able to return to…
Why does WBC count too low for chemo make me cry?
So much has happened since my diagnosis. And it is so strange what makes me cry and what does not. Today, my WBC count was 1300, which is too low for chemo. For some reason, this caused tears, and not just a little, it isn't boohooing, but I can't stop my eyes from welling up. Granted, because I am allergic to oxaliplatin,…
finger neuropathy-post chemo
Completed Capeox version of chemo January 10 after 24 weeks. Neuro in first three fingers of right hand began with Infusion #2 and has persisted after cessation of chemo: numbness (exacerbated with pressure from writing, typing, piano, etc.) + sense of swelling + low-level tingling. Cancer survivor friend strongly…
The "fun" is set to begin
Well I've had every test they can give you, talked to every doctor on earth and played phone tag with a million nurses at this point. There is nothing left to do but begin the treatment. They gave me an MRI and officially staged the cancer as stage three. Today I went to be "fitted" for their radiation machine and now have…
Chemo breaks
For those of you who are chemo for life or do Maintance chemo, for how long you were allowed chemo breaks? How often you were getting infusions and I talking about people with infusion and not Xeloda takers. Butt.
Mojo Moving Slooow,,,
Just signed on for a quick update. Go settled in yesterday at my daughters after leaving MUSC. Taking it slow and resting mostly. I had a drain tube on the colon incision side that was taken out the day that I left which keeps soaking thru but otherwise, doing well. Concentratng on building my energy and strength back up.…
Trying to find Hope
I know there is not much people can do or say. But compassion, understanding, support is all Im looking for at this point. I know what I am facing and I have no idea what will become of me. There is just this pause button on my life. I wait to see what they will recommended. Most of it I cant afford. Maybe I wont be able…
Probiotics
I have always been skeptical of probiotics, but recently have decided to give them a try--at least for a month. This recent article raises interesting issues about surgery, chemo, and the gut biome: http://engine.scichina.com/publisher/scp/journal/SCLS/doi/10.1007/s11427-018-9456-x?slug=fulltext An intricate relationship…
My daughter asked my surgeon if I needed a Cone of Shame...
He thought I did... Me and my comfort animal - Effie the Octopus, ready for the ride home.
Mojo and the Knife..
Possible surgery?
Hi all, my dad was diagnosed two years ago with cancer with mets in liver and lungs. He also had a lesion removed from his brain with gama knife (it is not known if it was cancerous or not). After Folfox and Folfiri stopped working and liver mets grew a bit, he will start Lonsurf or Stivarga. However, i found a specialsit…
Colorectal Cancer
Hi there, I just discovered this site and noticed that there are a wealth of information pertaining to different type of cancer. I am a Stage 4 Colorectal patient and was diagnosed way back in November 2017 on my daughter’s birthday. I started with a CEA marker of 6410 and was given only 1 month to live. Instead I took a…
My husband just spent 6 days in the hospital
again from those stupid biliary stents. However it does seem that there are no tumors in his bile ducts and the big one did get zapped by the radiation. Not 100% sure on this yet. however further up in his bile ducts is a narrowing called primary sclerosing Cholangitis. it’s not a good thing and the hai pump he has is…
Good CEA News
CEA is a funny thing. For some people it's very indicative of what's going on with their cancer, for others not so much. My understanding is that normal is under about 6 but smokers can have it as high as 13 without having cancer. And things like inflammation or illness can factor it. Someone please correct me if I'm…
Magnesium
I thought I should share this in case it helps someone. I've been getting magnesium with my chemo every treatment. I also take it orally by pill but apparently the body doesn't absorb it well that way. I'm told that this is not uncommon when on chemo or any treatment like that, mine's immunotherapy. I went from being weak…
Liver surgeon with HAI
For those who I interested... Dr. Mark Bloomston in Fort Myers. Internationally recognized. Wirked up North where he learnt it and trained in several different countries. If liver an issue strongly recommend. Remember it is a surgeon who makes a call on acresectionvsnd not your local oncologist. Grade stuff, great…
Under the Knife Soon
I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you who has shared with me, encouraged me, and “ held my hand” thru all of this. Leaving soon for MUSC and ready to kick butt, lol. Send those prayers and good energy up and away today. I need and will take all I can get. Until I can post again, wishing you all love ,…
Update & 3 Dr visits and questions about Stivarga...need info
This is all boring and routine stuff I guess but I did see my Oncologist and it went fairly well. He had a medical student with him, maybe that's why he was more informative and friendly. Who knows. He had spoken with the Interventional radiologist that just did my second Y90. So they chatted but he really didn't tell me…
Home again, home again, Jiggety Jig!
I'm finally home from the hospital (arrived home on Sunday.) I'm feeling well - this surgery was the easiest by far. However, I did end up with a 24-hr penalty/red flag (an extra day in the hospital) due to "bad behavior" (mine!) I probably shouldn't have joined the Dance Party in the Rec Lounge on Friday evening! Twisting…
Video Game and Emotions
I'm not sure if that's a good topic title but I wanted to share something that I found interesting. My daughter plays a game called Red Dead Redemption. It's set in the old west and is very realistic right down to things like taking care of your horse and training it and all kinds of things. The other day her character…
A high CEA of 28.5
Hi New on here. I just had my CEA checked and was just told it was 28.5, 1 month ago about it was 6.5 I am scared had ct and colonoscopy and tube down to stomach done all showing clear. I had colon cancer in 2016 and had surgery for that, they said they got it all. Im not sure what to think
Introduce myself
january 17th, during a routine colonoscopy, I found out the symptoms that I had were not my gallbladder but a 3cm mass in my transverse colon. I’m a week out from colon resection surgery and getting stronger everyday. The pathology came back as T3N0m0, so mostly all good news. i read thru a lot of your posts during thesr…
I'm back and still fighting
Okay, I stopped coming on here because things had become so bad for me that I felt I wasn't able to offer any positive support or help. My cancer had spread to my other lung, my liver, and it's also in my bowel again. They'd removed some from my bowel in September during the surgery for the 3 fistulas I had. I was sick…
Help for nausea
I've had quite a bit of trouble with nausea. My friend's daughter had cancer years ago and her onc said to give her Slurpees. There's something about the combination of pop and ice that helps. I couldn't get my head around it and didn't try it. But at the next chemo treatment a week later the nurse suggested the same…
Mojo and "Hope"
As I have gotten older, things I thouht were written in stone crumbled to dust. I say that in a good way. I am spiritual, but not religous even tho' I was raised in a holy rolling Nazarene church with a preacher who stomped his feet and scared God into you. By the time I was a teenager, I was convinced I was doomed to hell…
Butyric acid.
Multiple studies have shown butyric acid’s potential ability to fight cancer, especially cancer in the colon. It’s actually shown an ability to “modify nuclear architecture” and induce the death of colon cancer cells. This is likely a huge reason why increased fiber intake has been linked with less colon cancer since…

Colorectal Cancer

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