My oncologist - Full of good news today (NOT)
Comments
-
Doctors/Researchers/Stats ... oh sigh
Hi Eric,
Not sure if you remember me, it's been a good 7 months or so since I've been on the boards. Long story but suffice it to say, I came back today to try and find an email address and noticed your topic, so did a quick read/scan and... well, I just couldn't sit on my hands, I had to jump in and add my CDN .25
First... your doctor is a bonehead!! He may be smart as a whip and exactly who you want on your side for going to battle against this monster, which is probably reason for keeping him on your team, BUT his "survival rate for being a top notch compassionate oncologist is pretty much ZERO"
Ok... let me give you a personal reason why I advise you not to take him and his stats as proof that you are going to be gone any time soon. For those of you who know me, I'll try to be quick and not bore you with my details but I was diagnosed Stage 3 colon cancer back in Dec 2006 (yep, 3 years ago). I had the surgery, then 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of daily radiation. I was told the chemo would/could be rough on me and with the combination of the 6 weeks radiation, I could even become dependant on a wheelchair. Ok... so I mentally prepared myself (or so I thought)... but am not sure when this was all suppose to hit me because I did just fine and proceeded to get involved in lots of volunteer work with my passion, the theatre. I finished my 8 months of chemo at the end of Oct 2007 and patted myself on the back for getting through it all... and doing so well! I then planned for a celebration trip to Hawaii in January, 2008.
In Dec, 2007, I had my post chemo CEA blood test and the reading was "elevated". It was a 8.0... not exceptionally high, but higher than the norm (4.0). My onc told me to go have fun in Hawaii and we'll do the test again when I got back.
So, jump to Feb 2008 and we did the test again... now it was a 14. Hmmm... ok, this is a little worrisome, so my onc ordered a PET scan. Lo and behold, what a shock... my right adrenal gland lit up like a Christmas tree and there were 4 small spots that lit up in my lungs.
That's when I got the "I'm so sorry, Cheryl... the cancer has spread. It now is in your right adrenal gland AND your lungs. This means you are now a Category 4 and the cancer is now considered systemic. I'm sorry." Sorry? What do you mean your sorry? What does this actually mean?? "Well, statistics show that for a Cat 4 the survival rate is 2 - 24 months max." HELLO?? Are you saying I'm going to DIE???
Needless to say, I freaked out! I swear I had an out of body experience... which is something shock can do to you. I was TERRIFIED and couldn't really think straight. My oncologist (who I adore) was there for me and said, "Cheryl, come back... we have to talk" which sort of had me come back and refocus, but I was really not in my right mind nor could I concentrate on anything she said (thank goodness I brought two good friends with me so they could absorb what she was saying).
The end result was, she had taken my case to a roundtable conference of Oncs/Surgeons/Radiologists/etc. and they recommended removal of the right adrenal gland, but chemo seemed to be the only treatment for the lungs since surgery was not an option (tumours are in both lungs). So, I had the surgery for the adrenal gland and then we did a lung ablation procedure on the largest lung tumour. Of course, we also had a CAT scan of the lungs and found out that in total, I had 12 tumours... now 11 since the lung ablation took care of the largest. The other 11 were too small to ablate.
Well... that is coming up 2 years ago. Uh huh... my 2 years max sentence is running out as of this coming February I have yet to go on chemo for the small tumours because I have totally baffled the oncs! Colon cancer mets to the lungs are suppose to be fast growing, hence the chemo to slow down the speed and shrink the growth of them... plus once mets have started in the lungs, others tend to pop up fairly consistently. My onc says that the growth of the ones I have are considered "excrutiatingly slow" growing... in all her career, she's never seen such slow growing mets.
It has been 2 years 2 months since I had my last chemo treatment and it doesn't look like I am going on it any time soon. BUT if the time comes that the tumours do start growing, then of course I'll go on it to shrink them back to this small size (or make them disappear). But as my onc says right now, there's no sense going on chemo NOW because the tumours are doing exactly what we would hope the chemo would have them do... slow growth!
Phew... so why am I mentioning all of this?? It's because *I* was given the same talk as you... that I am incurable and that my survival rate was pretty much zero... and even given a time sentence of 2 - 24 months to live. And I haven't even begun to feel sick yet
So take the information you were given as that is just the stats talking, the textbook "studies", the "guesstimates", etc. and know that there are all those who defy the odds which is just as normal as those those who the stats are based on.
Hang in there... and allow yourself the gift of hope
Huggggggggs,
Cheryl
PS: Now, off I go to gather the email addresses I was looking for Hatshesput... if you read this, could you send me a private message with your email address?? Merci! 0 -
Cheryl!!!!CherylHutch said:Doctors/Researchers/Stats ... oh sigh
Hi Eric,
Not sure if you remember me, it's been a good 7 months or so since I've been on the boards. Long story but suffice it to say, I came back today to try and find an email address and noticed your topic, so did a quick read/scan and... well, I just couldn't sit on my hands, I had to jump in and add my CDN .25
First... your doctor is a bonehead!! He may be smart as a whip and exactly who you want on your side for going to battle against this monster, which is probably reason for keeping him on your team, BUT his "survival rate for being a top notch compassionate oncologist is pretty much ZERO"
Ok... let me give you a personal reason why I advise you not to take him and his stats as proof that you are going to be gone any time soon. For those of you who know me, I'll try to be quick and not bore you with my details but I was diagnosed Stage 3 colon cancer back in Dec 2006 (yep, 3 years ago). I had the surgery, then 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of daily radiation. I was told the chemo would/could be rough on me and with the combination of the 6 weeks radiation, I could even become dependant on a wheelchair. Ok... so I mentally prepared myself (or so I thought)... but am not sure when this was all suppose to hit me because I did just fine and proceeded to get involved in lots of volunteer work with my passion, the theatre. I finished my 8 months of chemo at the end of Oct 2007 and patted myself on the back for getting through it all... and doing so well! I then planned for a celebration trip to Hawaii in January, 2008.
In Dec, 2007, I had my post chemo CEA blood test and the reading was "elevated". It was a 8.0... not exceptionally high, but higher than the norm (4.0). My onc told me to go have fun in Hawaii and we'll do the test again when I got back.
So, jump to Feb 2008 and we did the test again... now it was a 14. Hmmm... ok, this is a little worrisome, so my onc ordered a PET scan. Lo and behold, what a shock... my right adrenal gland lit up like a Christmas tree and there were 4 small spots that lit up in my lungs.
That's when I got the "I'm so sorry, Cheryl... the cancer has spread. It now is in your right adrenal gland AND your lungs. This means you are now a Category 4 and the cancer is now considered systemic. I'm sorry." Sorry? What do you mean your sorry? What does this actually mean?? "Well, statistics show that for a Cat 4 the survival rate is 2 - 24 months max." HELLO?? Are you saying I'm going to DIE???
Needless to say, I freaked out! I swear I had an out of body experience... which is something shock can do to you. I was TERRIFIED and couldn't really think straight. My oncologist (who I adore) was there for me and said, "Cheryl, come back... we have to talk" which sort of had me come back and refocus, but I was really not in my right mind nor could I concentrate on anything she said (thank goodness I brought two good friends with me so they could absorb what she was saying).
The end result was, she had taken my case to a roundtable conference of Oncs/Surgeons/Radiologists/etc. and they recommended removal of the right adrenal gland, but chemo seemed to be the only treatment for the lungs since surgery was not an option (tumours are in both lungs). So, I had the surgery for the adrenal gland and then we did a lung ablation procedure on the largest lung tumour. Of course, we also had a CAT scan of the lungs and found out that in total, I had 12 tumours... now 11 since the lung ablation took care of the largest. The other 11 were too small to ablate.
Well... that is coming up 2 years ago. Uh huh... my 2 years max sentence is running out as of this coming February I have yet to go on chemo for the small tumours because I have totally baffled the oncs! Colon cancer mets to the lungs are suppose to be fast growing, hence the chemo to slow down the speed and shrink the growth of them... plus once mets have started in the lungs, others tend to pop up fairly consistently. My onc says that the growth of the ones I have are considered "excrutiatingly slow" growing... in all her career, she's never seen such slow growing mets.
It has been 2 years 2 months since I had my last chemo treatment and it doesn't look like I am going on it any time soon. BUT if the time comes that the tumours do start growing, then of course I'll go on it to shrink them back to this small size (or make them disappear). But as my onc says right now, there's no sense going on chemo NOW because the tumours are doing exactly what we would hope the chemo would have them do... slow growth!
Phew... so why am I mentioning all of this?? It's because *I* was given the same talk as you... that I am incurable and that my survival rate was pretty much zero... and even given a time sentence of 2 - 24 months to live. And I haven't even begun to feel sick yet
So take the information you were given as that is just the stats talking, the textbook "studies", the "guesstimates", etc. and know that there are all those who defy the odds which is just as normal as those those who the stats are based on.
Hang in there... and allow yourself the gift of hope
Huggggggggs,
Cheryl
PS: Now, off I go to gather the email addresses I was looking for Hatshesput... if you read this, could you send me a private message with your email address?? Merci!
It's so good to see you here, my heart almost stopped, and had to reply to you as how happy I am to see you here, and hope you come back more often, lots of nice new folks here as well, who would love you! You have helped me in so many ways, and I still read your old posts, and really wish you'd come back for us, we really do miss you!
I hope you think about it, and post sometime more, we love hearing about your progress, and miss you charming wit!
Hugssss!!
~Donna0 -
EricShayenne said:Cheryl!!!!
It's so good to see you here, my heart almost stopped, and had to reply to you as how happy I am to see you here, and hope you come back more often, lots of nice new folks here as well, who would love you! You have helped me in so many ways, and I still read your old posts, and really wish you'd come back for us, we really do miss you!
I hope you think about it, and post sometime more, we love hearing about your progress, and miss you charming wit!
Hugssss!!
~Donna
Man am I glad to hear from you!!!! I have been very worried about you... I am so angry at the doctor for telling you this...He had no right to say those things....Can you go to a Cancer Hospital and get a second or third opinion on this???? I am sure there is more they can do for you and with this rest in between it will do your body good...Take it very easy and enjoy NED for as long as you can...You have been such a big help to me in my journey, You have given me hope,faith,a sounding board,sympathy and many many laughs....I just wanted to Thank You for all you have given...You are truely a special person and I am glad I got to know you....Please check into seeing another doctor. I know you are tired of doing this but you have to man you just have to.......Please keep us updated we are all worried about you....Take good care of yourself and rest rest rest.....JULIE0 -
Similar situationCherylHutch said:Doctors/Researchers/Stats ... oh sigh
Hi Eric,
Not sure if you remember me, it's been a good 7 months or so since I've been on the boards. Long story but suffice it to say, I came back today to try and find an email address and noticed your topic, so did a quick read/scan and... well, I just couldn't sit on my hands, I had to jump in and add my CDN .25
First... your doctor is a bonehead!! He may be smart as a whip and exactly who you want on your side for going to battle against this monster, which is probably reason for keeping him on your team, BUT his "survival rate for being a top notch compassionate oncologist is pretty much ZERO"
Ok... let me give you a personal reason why I advise you not to take him and his stats as proof that you are going to be gone any time soon. For those of you who know me, I'll try to be quick and not bore you with my details but I was diagnosed Stage 3 colon cancer back in Dec 2006 (yep, 3 years ago). I had the surgery, then 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of daily radiation. I was told the chemo would/could be rough on me and with the combination of the 6 weeks radiation, I could even become dependant on a wheelchair. Ok... so I mentally prepared myself (or so I thought)... but am not sure when this was all suppose to hit me because I did just fine and proceeded to get involved in lots of volunteer work with my passion, the theatre. I finished my 8 months of chemo at the end of Oct 2007 and patted myself on the back for getting through it all... and doing so well! I then planned for a celebration trip to Hawaii in January, 2008.
In Dec, 2007, I had my post chemo CEA blood test and the reading was "elevated". It was a 8.0... not exceptionally high, but higher than the norm (4.0). My onc told me to go have fun in Hawaii and we'll do the test again when I got back.
So, jump to Feb 2008 and we did the test again... now it was a 14. Hmmm... ok, this is a little worrisome, so my onc ordered a PET scan. Lo and behold, what a shock... my right adrenal gland lit up like a Christmas tree and there were 4 small spots that lit up in my lungs.
That's when I got the "I'm so sorry, Cheryl... the cancer has spread. It now is in your right adrenal gland AND your lungs. This means you are now a Category 4 and the cancer is now considered systemic. I'm sorry." Sorry? What do you mean your sorry? What does this actually mean?? "Well, statistics show that for a Cat 4 the survival rate is 2 - 24 months max." HELLO?? Are you saying I'm going to DIE???
Needless to say, I freaked out! I swear I had an out of body experience... which is something shock can do to you. I was TERRIFIED and couldn't really think straight. My oncologist (who I adore) was there for me and said, "Cheryl, come back... we have to talk" which sort of had me come back and refocus, but I was really not in my right mind nor could I concentrate on anything she said (thank goodness I brought two good friends with me so they could absorb what she was saying).
The end result was, she had taken my case to a roundtable conference of Oncs/Surgeons/Radiologists/etc. and they recommended removal of the right adrenal gland, but chemo seemed to be the only treatment for the lungs since surgery was not an option (tumours are in both lungs). So, I had the surgery for the adrenal gland and then we did a lung ablation procedure on the largest lung tumour. Of course, we also had a CAT scan of the lungs and found out that in total, I had 12 tumours... now 11 since the lung ablation took care of the largest. The other 11 were too small to ablate.
Well... that is coming up 2 years ago. Uh huh... my 2 years max sentence is running out as of this coming February I have yet to go on chemo for the small tumours because I have totally baffled the oncs! Colon cancer mets to the lungs are suppose to be fast growing, hence the chemo to slow down the speed and shrink the growth of them... plus once mets have started in the lungs, others tend to pop up fairly consistently. My onc says that the growth of the ones I have are considered "excrutiatingly slow" growing... in all her career, she's never seen such slow growing mets.
It has been 2 years 2 months since I had my last chemo treatment and it doesn't look like I am going on it any time soon. BUT if the time comes that the tumours do start growing, then of course I'll go on it to shrink them back to this small size (or make them disappear). But as my onc says right now, there's no sense going on chemo NOW because the tumours are doing exactly what we would hope the chemo would have them do... slow growth!
Phew... so why am I mentioning all of this?? It's because *I* was given the same talk as you... that I am incurable and that my survival rate was pretty much zero... and even given a time sentence of 2 - 24 months to live. And I haven't even begun to feel sick yet
So take the information you were given as that is just the stats talking, the textbook "studies", the "guesstimates", etc. and know that there are all those who defy the odds which is just as normal as those those who the stats are based on.
Hang in there... and allow yourself the gift of hope
Huggggggggs,
Cheryl
PS: Now, off I go to gather the email addresses I was looking for Hatshesput... if you read this, could you send me a private message with your email address?? Merci!
Hi Cheryl,
My partner is in a similar situation, original stage 3 Dx in Dec 07, chemo for six months, then found lung mets in Jan 09, biggest removed for Dx reasons, there are still about 7 or 8 spread throughout the lungs, very small, all under 10mm, they have not changed much this past year, he gets CTs every 3 months. The next one is in Feb, the onc wants to start chemo (folfiri) if anything gets bigger than 10mm. Your story really gives me hope!! Our onc also says that his mets are very indolent, slow growing. Hope this is a good sign!!!
Bill0 -
Chemo or no.
Do I understand correctly that you are deciding now whether to do the maintenance chemo or not? My suggestion is to do the chemo. Even though your oncologist says you cannot expect it to extend your life, if it suppresses the cancer for a longer time, that should put you in a better position to profit from future advances in treatment.0 -
Cheryl!!CherylHutch said:Doctors/Researchers/Stats ... oh sigh
Hi Eric,
Not sure if you remember me, it's been a good 7 months or so since I've been on the boards. Long story but suffice it to say, I came back today to try and find an email address and noticed your topic, so did a quick read/scan and... well, I just couldn't sit on my hands, I had to jump in and add my CDN .25
First... your doctor is a bonehead!! He may be smart as a whip and exactly who you want on your side for going to battle against this monster, which is probably reason for keeping him on your team, BUT his "survival rate for being a top notch compassionate oncologist is pretty much ZERO"
Ok... let me give you a personal reason why I advise you not to take him and his stats as proof that you are going to be gone any time soon. For those of you who know me, I'll try to be quick and not bore you with my details but I was diagnosed Stage 3 colon cancer back in Dec 2006 (yep, 3 years ago). I had the surgery, then 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of daily radiation. I was told the chemo would/could be rough on me and with the combination of the 6 weeks radiation, I could even become dependant on a wheelchair. Ok... so I mentally prepared myself (or so I thought)... but am not sure when this was all suppose to hit me because I did just fine and proceeded to get involved in lots of volunteer work with my passion, the theatre. I finished my 8 months of chemo at the end of Oct 2007 and patted myself on the back for getting through it all... and doing so well! I then planned for a celebration trip to Hawaii in January, 2008.
In Dec, 2007, I had my post chemo CEA blood test and the reading was "elevated". It was a 8.0... not exceptionally high, but higher than the norm (4.0). My onc told me to go have fun in Hawaii and we'll do the test again when I got back.
So, jump to Feb 2008 and we did the test again... now it was a 14. Hmmm... ok, this is a little worrisome, so my onc ordered a PET scan. Lo and behold, what a shock... my right adrenal gland lit up like a Christmas tree and there were 4 small spots that lit up in my lungs.
That's when I got the "I'm so sorry, Cheryl... the cancer has spread. It now is in your right adrenal gland AND your lungs. This means you are now a Category 4 and the cancer is now considered systemic. I'm sorry." Sorry? What do you mean your sorry? What does this actually mean?? "Well, statistics show that for a Cat 4 the survival rate is 2 - 24 months max." HELLO?? Are you saying I'm going to DIE???
Needless to say, I freaked out! I swear I had an out of body experience... which is something shock can do to you. I was TERRIFIED and couldn't really think straight. My oncologist (who I adore) was there for me and said, "Cheryl, come back... we have to talk" which sort of had me come back and refocus, but I was really not in my right mind nor could I concentrate on anything she said (thank goodness I brought two good friends with me so they could absorb what she was saying).
The end result was, she had taken my case to a roundtable conference of Oncs/Surgeons/Radiologists/etc. and they recommended removal of the right adrenal gland, but chemo seemed to be the only treatment for the lungs since surgery was not an option (tumours are in both lungs). So, I had the surgery for the adrenal gland and then we did a lung ablation procedure on the largest lung tumour. Of course, we also had a CAT scan of the lungs and found out that in total, I had 12 tumours... now 11 since the lung ablation took care of the largest. The other 11 were too small to ablate.
Well... that is coming up 2 years ago. Uh huh... my 2 years max sentence is running out as of this coming February I have yet to go on chemo for the small tumours because I have totally baffled the oncs! Colon cancer mets to the lungs are suppose to be fast growing, hence the chemo to slow down the speed and shrink the growth of them... plus once mets have started in the lungs, others tend to pop up fairly consistently. My onc says that the growth of the ones I have are considered "excrutiatingly slow" growing... in all her career, she's never seen such slow growing mets.
It has been 2 years 2 months since I had my last chemo treatment and it doesn't look like I am going on it any time soon. BUT if the time comes that the tumours do start growing, then of course I'll go on it to shrink them back to this small size (or make them disappear). But as my onc says right now, there's no sense going on chemo NOW because the tumours are doing exactly what we would hope the chemo would have them do... slow growth!
Phew... so why am I mentioning all of this?? It's because *I* was given the same talk as you... that I am incurable and that my survival rate was pretty much zero... and even given a time sentence of 2 - 24 months to live. And I haven't even begun to feel sick yet
So take the information you were given as that is just the stats talking, the textbook "studies", the "guesstimates", etc. and know that there are all those who defy the odds which is just as normal as those those who the stats are based on.
Hang in there... and allow yourself the gift of hope
Huggggggggs,
Cheryl
PS: Now, off I go to gather the email addresses I was looking for Hatshesput... if you read this, could you send me a private message with your email address?? Merci!
Cheryl,
I was thinking hard about you yesterday, which means I miss you and all your love and wisdom. So very, very good to see you post.
Aloha,
Kathleen0 -
Eric
Eric,
You are a strong guy and you have a lot of living to do. Second and third opinions are good. For now, go out and enjoy your NEDNESS!!!! Have a wonderful holiday season with lots of laughter and joy. Truth be told not one of us knows how long we have. We see this every day in the news. The only option we have is to go live life to the fullest!
Thinking of you.
With prayers and aloha,
Kathleen0 -
You are correct Greg. HePGLGreg said:Chemo or no.
Do I understand correctly that you are deciding now whether to do the maintenance chemo or not? My suggestion is to do the chemo. Even though your oncologist says you cannot expect it to extend your life, if it suppresses the cancer for a longer time, that should put you in a better position to profit from future advances in treatment.
You are correct Greg. He said when I am finished with my mop up treatments that I will have a decision to make. Either go on maintenance or wait until the cancer returns and start on chemo again.
Eric0 -
Hi Eric
I wanted to copy and paste your first post to me, but I couldn't find it. I came here devastated because we had basically been told my husband had no hope, and you were one of the first people to reach out to me and tell me to never give up hope. I want to return the favor. You are right - there is no false hope - miracles happen all the time.
I'm so sorry you had to hear that from your doctor. Hang in there and don't let anything shake your resolve to fight. One day at a time and today you are ALIVE!!! Stay strong and stay hopeful
You are in my prayers.
Be strong and be well,
Donna0 -
Indeed; ain't dead yet!
Hi Eric
Just catching up on posts after traveling for scans and what not this week, and just had to let you know how it is such a delight to know you.
“A friend is one to whom you can pour out the contents of your heart, chaff and grain alike. Knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”
all the best, Leslie
PS If you aren't doing acupuncture, I highly recommend that for keeping side effects minimal. Look for one with experience and/or desire to treat cancer patients.0 -
Sorry,I am late.Once you got
Sorry,I am late.Once you got cancer,you have to fight for the odds and creat the odds.I believe no matter what type of cancer and no matter how ugly the cancer is,there is always survivor.I believe in faith,I believe you will survive.Take care,my friend.0 -
Eric
I haven't been on the board for a couple of days. This is good news/ bad news. We have the same thing going on with my husband (incurable). We haven't seen remission yet but are still hoping it will come.
You are strong Eric and you are right to not let it cloud your mind. I met lesvanb yesterday. Had a wonderful lunch. She has been through so much and she is so right-Ain't dead yet. Keep on hoping for the best. We are keeping you in our thoughts. Paula0 -
HI Eric, broke my heart toeric38 said:Texas Strong
All of you are such sweet and caring people. I thank God for you. I know doctors go by the book and the stats but sometimes people defy stats and I think my doctor is an atheist so he does not believe miracles happen, but I do and there are new things coming out all the time. The doctor is still going to give me 4 more mop up treatments but at the present moment I have had a break from chemo for about 3 weeks and am feeling better than I have in 2 years so that is the positive in all this. I am certainly not on my death bed. Whatever comes my quality of life has improved because I was so fatigued for such a long time before my diagnosis. I`ll certainly live alot longer than I would have without treatment. The surgeon was under the belief that i wouldn`t have lasted 6 months if I didn`t respond to chemo. Those are the things I can be grateful for and I am prepared to face whatever comes but I believe that I will be sticking around for a while. I come from a family of survivors. If there was a nuclear holocaust it would be me and the roaches left.
Eric
HI Eric, broke my heart to read what you are going through. GOd bless and miracles do happen. Try to keep your chin up, I'm praying for you.0 -
Similar situationTrapbear said:Similar situation
Hi Cheryl,
My partner is in a similar situation, original stage 3 Dx in Dec 07, chemo for six months, then found lung mets in Jan 09, biggest removed for Dx reasons, there are still about 7 or 8 spread throughout the lungs, very small, all under 10mm, they have not changed much this past year, he gets CTs every 3 months. The next one is in Feb, the onc wants to start chemo (folfiri) if anything gets bigger than 10mm. Your story really gives me hope!! Our onc also says that his mets are very indolent, slow growing. Hope this is a good sign!!!
Bill
Hey Bill,
It sure does sound like your partner and I are in a similar situation... and the slower they grow, or the lazier they want to be, is just fine with me
Even if one or two of them do start to grow... if the others don't then have your partner talk to his oncologist about the possibility of the RFA procedure (Radio Frequency Ablation). Not all radiologists can do this procedure but if there is someone nearby where you two live, it's definitely worth pursuing. With a history of slow, indolent growing tumours in the lungs... well, if one or two start growing past the 10mm, a RFA radiologist could go in and zap them and bye-bye tumour!
It's a procedure that is non-invasive (compared to lung surgery). You go in, have the procedure done with the help of a CAT scan (usually under General Anesthetic) and because of the General, they usually want to keep the person overnight for observation. In my case, I was soooo back to normal within an hour of coming out of the anesthetic and when they took an xray of my lungs and I could take the deep breaths... they released me from the hospital that same day. I seriously could have gone shopping after we got out of the hospital... and I could have driven myself home, but that was a no-no so I stayed at a friend's house who lived close to the hospital
That is one of the options we'll be looking at again should these two tumours that are showing some growth movement get any bigger... if we could zap them before going back on chemo, well so be it
Soooo.. lots of hope ahead, even though we are still considered (and always will be) the dreaded Stage IV
Cheryl0 -
God is the healer and the one who determines our time
I am so sorry to hear your good/bad news. I was told by my onc that I was terminal but then he went on to say we all are terminal so we'll just keep fighting. I truly believe we each have a time that only God alone dictates. No dr or static can change that. If you can hang on just one day who knows what tomorrow will bring...a new miracle drug, new therapy etc... just hang on to one day at a time and trust God.
Jill0 -
Eric!
Hi Eric,
I didn't scroll through all 55 replies to your post (wow!)- just read your initial post, so don't know else you might have said (no time to read them this a.m., but wanted to reply to your original post here).
Anyhow, I feel for you how your onc's comment probably felt like a sickening punch in your stomach. Nothing like giving someone bad news to take the joy away from the good news they just received. You DID get VERY GOOD NEWS- so congratulations on that- that's absolutely wonderful that he said you "are probably in remission"- wow!!!!!!
Try not to let his other comments sour your wonderful news, although I know that it did. What a stupid thing he said to you. Why not get your hopes up- HOPE is what we live for!!!!!
You are a great guy Eric, and I know that your faith will carry you through it all.
There IS hope for further treatments and healing- God is bigger than our cancer!!
Hugs of encouragement,
Lisa0 -
Hey Lisa....lisa42 said:Eric!
Hi Eric,
I didn't scroll through all 55 replies to your post (wow!)- just read your initial post, so don't know else you might have said (no time to read them this a.m., but wanted to reply to your original post here).
Anyhow, I feel for you how your onc's comment probably felt like a sickening punch in your stomach. Nothing like giving someone bad news to take the joy away from the good news they just received. You DID get VERY GOOD NEWS- so congratulations on that- that's absolutely wonderful that he said you "are probably in remission"- wow!!!!!!
Try not to let his other comments sour your wonderful news, although I know that it did. What a stupid thing he said to you. Why not get your hopes up- HOPE is what we live for!!!!!
You are a great guy Eric, and I know that your faith will carry you through it all.
There IS hope for further treatments and healing- God is bigger than our cancer!!
Hugs of encouragement,
Lisa
I know you were looking for a post from Cheryl, but there is a couple above a few of these from the bottom here
Hugsss!
~Donna0 -
Doctors don't get to say when you die
I'm new here. Just registered tonigt after coming across this site doing some research about my newly aquired ileostomy. I just came home from the hospital today after a rectal resectio/ileostoy. I've read a few threads and came across this one. It stopped me cold. Please remember the doctors do not get to decide how much time you hav., That is up to you and to God. Even if you don't believe in God, the doctors still do not hold that power. Your onc sounds rather cold, just based on the info in you post. I'm sorry for that. My entire experience has been made easier by the wonderful attitude of all of my doctors, nurses, PAs and everyone else. I can hardly think of anyone I worked with who brought me down. It makes a huge difference. Good luck and God bless.
I just went back and re-read the last part of your post. Your attitude sounds terrific. It's not denial, it's a survivor's attitude and it will serve you well. Stay strong.
Andrew0 -
Thank you for all theGixxerman said:Doctors don't get to say when you die
I'm new here. Just registered tonigt after coming across this site doing some research about my newly aquired ileostomy. I just came home from the hospital today after a rectal resectio/ileostoy. I've read a few threads and came across this one. It stopped me cold. Please remember the doctors do not get to decide how much time you hav., That is up to you and to God. Even if you don't believe in God, the doctors still do not hold that power. Your onc sounds rather cold, just based on the info in you post. I'm sorry for that. My entire experience has been made easier by the wonderful attitude of all of my doctors, nurses, PAs and everyone else. I can hardly think of anyone I worked with who brought me down. It makes a huge difference. Good luck and God bless.
I just went back and re-read the last part of your post. Your attitude sounds terrific. It's not denial, it's a survivor's attitude and it will serve you well. Stay strong.
Andrew
Thank you for all the wonderful posts. It surprises me that people are still responding to this. It must have struck a chord.
I love you guys,
Eric0
Discussion Boards
- All Discussion Boards
- 6 CSN Information
- 6 Welcome to CSN
- 121.6K Cancer specific
- 2.8K Anal Cancer
- 446 Bladder Cancer
- 308 Bone Cancers
- 1.6K Brain Cancer
- 28.5K Breast Cancer
- 395 Childhood Cancers
- 27.9K Colorectal Cancer
- 4.6K Esophageal Cancer
- 1.2K Gynecological Cancers (other than ovarian and uterine)
- 13K Head and Neck Cancer
- 6.3K Kidney Cancer
- 671 Leukemia
- 791 Liver Cancer
- 4.1K Lung Cancer
- 5.1K Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
- 234 Multiple Myeloma
- 7.1K Ovarian Cancer
- 56 Pancreatic Cancer
- 487 Peritoneal Cancer
- 5.4K Prostate Cancer
- 1.2K Rare and Other Cancers
- 534 Sarcoma
- 719 Skin Cancer
- 646 Stomach Cancer
- 190 Testicular Cancer
- 1.5K Thyroid Cancer
- 5.9K Uterine/Endometrial Cancer
- 6.3K Lifestyle Discussion Boards