stage 3 b sigmoid colorectal cancer

We are from Australia, and my husband has been diagnosed with stage 3 b sigmoid colorectal cancer. He has had his bowel resection in august and is waiting on chemo. The pathology report read High anterior resection - invasive moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of sigmoid colon, 50 mm in diameter, infiltrating through muscularis propria into pericolic fat, without serosal involvment, without lymphovascular and perineural invasion, with lymph node metastases 2/35, clear of resection margins. Wondering about your experience with this diagnoses and what are the chances of being ned for 5 years after chemo. Thanks for your help dinkydi8

Comments

  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41
    stage 3 b sigmoid cancer
    Wondering if any body could reply to my post. dinkydi8
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    Hi there
    Didn't want you to think you were being ignored. I'm just not that familiar with the medical terms, someone else might be.
    The earlier it's caught the better chance for that 5 years. Your husband's while not caught very early, has been caught sooner then a lot of us stage IV's. While our rate (stageIV)isn't going all that great at the moment, we do get a lot of years in. Craig has 8 years in and he's stage IV, Chip (impactzone) has 6 and 1/2 years, there are several others the same, quite a few have yet to maintain NED, as I said your husband's was caught earlier so his chances are better. It's just difficult to know with this beast of a thing (cancer).
    I've been two and half years now, and am dealing with a re-occurrence myself, hopefully something that an upcoming surgery can change once again. If you want to know about quality of life being on chemo and having surgeries, I can tell you so far mine has been GREAT. Full time college student (I'm old, 53)part time job, and babysitting grandchildren, I've traveled and pretty much have gone on with my life normally with the chemo's and surgeries being fit in, much rather have been without the cancer, but you deal with what you are given.
    I think others will chime in as to your question. I'm truly sorry I couldn't help you with it.
    The best to you and yours,
    Winter Marie
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41

    Hi there
    Didn't want you to think you were being ignored. I'm just not that familiar with the medical terms, someone else might be.
    The earlier it's caught the better chance for that 5 years. Your husband's while not caught very early, has been caught sooner then a lot of us stage IV's. While our rate (stageIV)isn't going all that great at the moment, we do get a lot of years in. Craig has 8 years in and he's stage IV, Chip (impactzone) has 6 and 1/2 years, there are several others the same, quite a few have yet to maintain NED, as I said your husband's was caught earlier so his chances are better. It's just difficult to know with this beast of a thing (cancer).
    I've been two and half years now, and am dealing with a re-occurrence myself, hopefully something that an upcoming surgery can change once again. If you want to know about quality of life being on chemo and having surgeries, I can tell you so far mine has been GREAT. Full time college student (I'm old, 53)part time job, and babysitting grandchildren, I've traveled and pretty much have gone on with my life normally with the chemo's and surgeries being fit in, much rather have been without the cancer, but you deal with what you are given.
    I think others will chime in as to your question. I'm truly sorry I couldn't help you with it.
    The best to you and yours,
    Winter Marie

    stage 3 b sigmoid cancer
    Thank you Winter Marie, I really appreciate you replying to me. It is great to see your positive attitude, I am sure that is a real factor in surviving this wretch. dinkydi8
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    I had a moderately differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma
    of the appendix, which had metastasized, and subsequently had my colon resected in 3 places, including sigmoid, cecum, and ileum. While my lymph nodes were clear, the cancer had seeded extensively.

    Between cytoreductive surgery, intraperitoneal chemo (as my appendix had ruptured, spewing cancer throughout my belly, and systemic chemo, I am in complete remission.

    I'm now 5 1/2 years out from dx; 4 1/2 yrs out from chemo, and completely healthy, expected to live a full normal life (tho they won't use the other "c" word with me - cure, as appendix cancer is too rare).
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41
    abrub said:

    I had a moderately differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma
    of the appendix, which had metastasized, and subsequently had my colon resected in 3 places, including sigmoid, cecum, and ileum. While my lymph nodes were clear, the cancer had seeded extensively.

    Between cytoreductive surgery, intraperitoneal chemo (as my appendix had ruptured, spewing cancer throughout my belly, and systemic chemo, I am in complete remission.

    I'm now 5 1/2 years out from dx; 4 1/2 yrs out from chemo, and completely healthy, expected to live a full normal life (tho they won't use the other "c" word with me - cure, as appendix cancer is too rare).

    Thank you abrub, it is very
    Thank you abrub, it is very generous of you all to come to the aid of others going through this tough time. You have amazing positivity. I look forward to being able to chat to you again as we go through our chemo. dinkydi8
  • ron50
    ron50 Member Posts: 1,723 Member
    dinkydi8 said:

    Thank you abrub, it is very
    Thank you abrub, it is very generous of you all to come to the aid of others going through this tough time. You have amazing positivity. I look forward to being able to chat to you again as we go through our chemo. dinkydi8

    G'day Di
    I'm in Nambour on the Sunshine coast. I was dxed stage 3 c with 6/13 nodes involved. Had surgery and a year of chemo. I have been ca free since Jan 1998. I do suffer some l/term side effects of the chemo I was on but is not a worry for your hubby as the drug I was on has been banned. Just take it a day at a time and try to keep a normal routine to your life,it does help. I worked thru chemo and still work now. I was 48 at dx. Cheers Ron.
  • Lovekitties
    Lovekitties Member Posts: 3,364 Member
    Hi
    Glad you found this board. The folks here are a very sharing group.

    Each person here has wondered if they will ever be NED and if so for how long. There is just no way to tell. The best we can do is to believe that we can and do what we can to make it so.

    Please ask all the questions you want and someone here will try to answer. Please also don't be afraid to express your fears or concerns. Emotional support is as necessary as treatment.

    May the fight for renewed health be easier than you expect.

    Marie who loves kitties
  • thingy45
    thingy45 Member Posts: 632 Member

    Hi
    Glad you found this board. The folks here are a very sharing group.

    Each person here has wondered if they will ever be NED and if so for how long. There is just no way to tell. The best we can do is to believe that we can and do what we can to make it so.

    Please ask all the questions you want and someone here will try to answer. Please also don't be afraid to express your fears or concerns. Emotional support is as necessary as treatment.

    May the fight for renewed health be easier than you expect.

    Marie who loves kitties

    Welcome
    Welcome to the board. AS you have read by now we are all in different stages.
    There will be always someone who can help you if you have questions.
    Emotional support is also always available.
    Hugs, from Canada, Marjan
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41
    ron50 said:

    G'day Di
    I'm in Nambour on the Sunshine coast. I was dxed stage 3 c with 6/13 nodes involved. Had surgery and a year of chemo. I have been ca free since Jan 1998. I do suffer some l/term side effects of the chemo I was on but is not a worry for your hubby as the drug I was on has been banned. Just take it a day at a time and try to keep a normal routine to your life,it does help. I worked thru chemo and still work now. I was 48 at dx. Cheers Ron.

    Ron50
    Thank you Ron, it is a great site and you are a real success story, considering you are cancer free for 14 years. The chemo regime would be a totally different prospect now. My husband is also a keen fisherman as you appear to be. I have just read your bio and you have had a really difficult time to say the least. What sort of cancer was it? My husbands is a adenocarcinoma, I am not sure whether that is an agressive one or not. I would love to keep in touch as you have been through the mill, lost so much and have come out the other end, albeit not in the same condition. Cheers Di
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41

    Hi
    Glad you found this board. The folks here are a very sharing group.

    Each person here has wondered if they will ever be NED and if so for how long. There is just no way to tell. The best we can do is to believe that we can and do what we can to make it so.

    Please ask all the questions you want and someone here will try to answer. Please also don't be afraid to express your fears or concerns. Emotional support is as necessary as treatment.

    May the fight for renewed health be easier than you expect.

    Marie who loves kitties

    Hi Lovekitties
    Thank you for replying to my post and for your sage advice. It is very frightening and to have people to talk to is fantastic. My husband has recovered from the surgery without complications and although he has lost quite a bit of weight, he is regaining it whilst waiting for chemo. We were lucky that at stage three they collect and remove a large number of lymph nodes (35) and 2 were found to have cancer cells. They took 12 inches of bowel which contained a 50mm adenocarinoma. They took the fat wall containing the lymph nodes and the pathology showed the resected sigmoid had clear margins where it was reattached. I look forward to sharing our journey with you all. Cheers Di
  • ron50
    ron50 Member Posts: 1,723 Member
    dinkydi8 said:

    Ron50
    Thank you Ron, it is a great site and you are a real success story, considering you are cancer free for 14 years. The chemo regime would be a totally different prospect now. My husband is also a keen fisherman as you appear to be. I have just read your bio and you have had a really difficult time to say the least. What sort of cancer was it? My husbands is a adenocarcinoma, I am not sure whether that is an agressive one or not. I would love to keep in touch as you have been through the mill, lost so much and have come out the other end, albeit not in the same condition. Cheers Di

    Hi Di
    Mine was an adenocarcinoma of the transverse and descending colon. My surgeon described it as frightfully aggressive. He would have preferred radiation as a mop up tool but unfortunately that part of the colon mooves around too much to target. So i started chemo three weeks after surgery. Unfortunately I could not tolerate 5fu//leucovorin and I went to weekly 5fu enhanced every second weeks with levamisole. Levamisole was banned in 2002 in the US for fatal side effects. So far I have survived ca ,chemo and survival. All the best Ron.
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41
    thingy45 said:

    Welcome
    Welcome to the board. AS you have read by now we are all in different stages.
    There will be always someone who can help you if you have questions.
    Emotional support is also always available.
    Hugs, from Canada, Marjan

    Hi thingy45 (marjan)
    Thank you for your reply and I am glad that you are ned. You are in the same age group as my husband. He is also stag 111 b but had 2 lymph nodes affected. Have you made any decisions re chemo. Stage 2 is better than stage 3, so at least you have a choice. I look forward to keeping in touch with you all. Cheers Di
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    Welcome to the CSN! Do not
    Welcome to the CSN! Do not read anything before 2007. things have gotten much better since then. Outcomes of 30% are now 65% or better. The drugs have been refined and improved. Recently even more improvements and refinements have happened. Is the land Down under there are two Universities that have targeted Chemo to cell that they have grown then tried different chemos in petri dishes, then applied what they learned to their client with exceptional results.

    So, things are looking better every day!

    Best Always, mike
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41
    thxmiker said:

    Welcome to the CSN! Do not
    Welcome to the CSN! Do not read anything before 2007. things have gotten much better since then. Outcomes of 30% are now 65% or better. The drugs have been refined and improved. Recently even more improvements and refinements have happened. Is the land Down under there are two Universities that have targeted Chemo to cell that they have grown then tried different chemos in petri dishes, then applied what they learned to their client with exceptional results.

    So, things are looking better every day!

    Best Always, mike

    Hi thxmiker
    This network is such a god send. I read your bio and you also had a hard time. You are fortunate to have a loving family and network of friends, but those things dont happen by chance, you need to be a good caring person in the first place. I have heard of the therapy that you mentioned. I will ask the Oncologist at our appointment about this advancement. What is your statis at the moment? Hope you are ned or at least almost there. Cheers Di
  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41
    thxmiker said:

    Welcome to the CSN! Do not
    Welcome to the CSN! Do not read anything before 2007. things have gotten much better since then. Outcomes of 30% are now 65% or better. The drugs have been refined and improved. Recently even more improvements and refinements have happened. Is the land Down under there are two Universities that have targeted Chemo to cell that they have grown then tried different chemos in petri dishes, then applied what they learned to their client with exceptional results.

    So, things are looking better every day!

    Best Always, mike

    which universities
    Hi thxmiker, just wondering if you know which universities are involved in the cell therapies. I am aware of these advances in Germany, have not heard of this in Australia. I am involved in the health industry and would be very interested to follow up on this. Any info. would be greatfully received. Cheers dinkydi8
  • Hopeful0524
    Hopeful0524 Member Posts: 22

    Hi there
    Didn't want you to think you were being ignored. I'm just not that familiar with the medical terms, someone else might be.
    The earlier it's caught the better chance for that 5 years. Your husband's while not caught very early, has been caught sooner then a lot of us stage IV's. While our rate (stageIV)isn't going all that great at the moment, we do get a lot of years in. Craig has 8 years in and he's stage IV, Chip (impactzone) has 6 and 1/2 years, there are several others the same, quite a few have yet to maintain NED, as I said your husband's was caught earlier so his chances are better. It's just difficult to know with this beast of a thing (cancer).
    I've been two and half years now, and am dealing with a re-occurrence myself, hopefully something that an upcoming surgery can change once again. If you want to know about quality of life being on chemo and having surgeries, I can tell you so far mine has been GREAT. Full time college student (I'm old, 53)part time job, and babysitting grandchildren, I've traveled and pretty much have gone on with my life normally with the chemo's and surgeries being fit in, much rather have been without the cancer, but you deal with what you are given.
    I think others will chime in as to your question. I'm truly sorry I couldn't help you with it.
    The best to you and yours,
    Winter Marie

    You are Inspiring

    Thank you for your inspiring message.  I was very worried about my quality of life, but, like you said, "you deal with what you are given"

    I hope all is well,

    Hopeful

  • dinkydi8
    dinkydi8 Member Posts: 41

    You are Inspiring

    Thank you for your inspiring message.  I was very worried about my quality of life, but, like you said, "you deal with what you are given"

    I hope all is well,

    Hopeful

    Stage 3b colon cancer

    Hello Hopeful,  it was so nice to see a post from you as I havnt posted in a long time.  Thank you for asking about my Husband.  The update is all scans and bloods have been clear so far.  He will be having a CT scan in August 14, and this will be 2 years since his surgery. We are of course hoping for a clear scan result.  He is well and totally recovered from Chemo and his neuropathy has disappeared, so we are very forunate indeed  --  to this stage.  I wish you all well travelling this cruel and unfair road and I will post after his scan in August.  God bless you all.  Cheers  Dinky Di 8

  • carrieh
    carrieh Member Posts: 146 Member
    dinkydi8 said:

    which universities
    Hi thxmiker, just wondering if you know which universities are involved in the cell therapies. I am aware of these advances in Germany, have not heard of this in Australia. I am involved in the health industry and would be very interested to follow up on this. Any info. would be greatfully received. Cheers dinkydi8

    You came to a great place for

    You came to a great place for support and advice. Mine was stage 2 but has spread to my left lung two years later. Really, it's a wait and see type thing. That's one of the hardest parts of it all. Cancer isn't an automatic death sentence. Many people live for years and years with cancer. One day at a time, read everything you can, and just hang on. It's quite a ride but like anything else in life..a lot depends not on what happens but how you choose to deal with it. Wishing you peace and health

    Carrie and kids