Hope II

Greetings,
To make a long story short, I’ve been battling CRC for almost 7 year, Dec. 14th will be the start of my 7th year. On Dec. 14, 2004 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, (1) tumor in my liver the size of a pea and (3) spots on my liver. Immediately following the dx, I was put on folfox and had very good results, 6 wks later the spots were gone from liver and the tumor on my colon began to decrease in size. March 2005, I had a colon resection; they took 6 inches of colon and left the rest. After I recouped from surgery I finished my folfox and (5) wks of radiation. A month later I was declared NED, I took the next 4 months off. Fast forward to Feb 2006, one tumor reappears on my liver, doctors decide that surgery to chryo tumor was the answer, they did, and for the next 2 years I was cancer free. June of 2008, I go for scan, they find a spot very near chryo’d tumor, this time they decide to do a liver resection. Surgery goes well, I’m NED until Oct of 2009. We do a periodic ct scan, results show 2 more spots appear, a very small spot on a lymph node in intestinal area, near liver, and the other in the plural of my right lung. At that point my doctor tells me that my cancer is now incurable,the plural tumor is inoperable, and chemo (folfiri) is my only option. Two years later, Oct 2011, doctor is surprised that no other cancer appears, especially given the fact that I was taking chemo every 4-5 weeks. We decide to do a Pet scan to see if there’s anything new, and as it turns out, there’s not. The tumor in my intestine has been the same size for 2 year, it’s showing up hot in the Pet scan, and the spot in my plural looks to be calcified, no activity shown on Pet. Today, both my onc and surgeon decide the once inoperable tumor in my lung is now operable, they want to remove it along with the tumor in my gut in the near future, early Dec, 2011.

I’m not too worried about abdominal surgery, I’ve had (3) up to this point, and I know what to expect. I’m far more worried about the plural surgery. They’re going to do (2) 2” incisions between my ribs, deflate my right lung, cut out the tumor if possible, depends on what they see. Doc says it’s going to hurt like hell. Not looking forward to this at all, but I’m going to do it. Two years ago, I was told that I had incurable cancer, after this surgery, there’s a very good chance that I’ll be cancer free again. Although it may be temporary 3,6,9 months, a year or two or five, I’m going for it. The lesson to be learned here is to never lose hope and keep battling because you just never know.

A little about me, in January of 2012 I’ll turn 50, can’t wait! They will surgically have to remove the smile off my face after that party. I have a wife and 9 year old son who I absolutely adore. Throughout this ordeal, I have and continue to work full time. Despite my cancer, I’m in good health and I rarely get sick. My life is fairly normal, I cut my grass, shovel the snow, chase after my kid, I have a good life.

I’ll post after I heel from my surgery.