survivor

lancelot14466

My husband was diagnosed with stage iv colon cancer with mets to the liver (5 spots initially)in March of 2002. He had a resection of his colon and they were able to get all of the tumor but not before it had spread to his liver. He has been on 5fu and leucovorin since May of 2002 with some success. He now has 3 small tumors instead of 5 with no signs of any more spread to other organs. His CEA marker has never gone below 300 and has gone up and down like a yo yo from low 1000's to 300's. He feels pretty good, no weight loss just very fatigued from the treatments. His liver function tests are all normal though they have risen on and off. Its been over a year now and he is still kicking. Its a drag going for chemo every week but so far so good. Hang in there to all of you who have been given bad news. Keep a good outlook, keep hope alive and live one day at a time. Everyday is a gift. Anyone else out there with similar stories I would love to hear them.

VictoriaC

It is so nice to hear your story! I wished that I had stumbled on this site when I was in my darkest hours, thinking that there was no hope. I have since learned differently.
I was diagnosed October 17, 2002, had surgery on November 6th to remove the tumor in my colon, and started chemo on December 6, 2002. When they opened me up, they also found a golf ball sized tumor on my abdomen and 7 cherry sized tumors in each lobe of my liver. They removed the tumor on my abdomen. They also removed 23 Lymph nodes that came back negative. I still can't figure that one out! I have been reponding very well so far to chemo...my tumor markings were 3,159 in December and now they are 750, always going down. I get a
new reading on Monday. I have learned so much about this disease, and I inform as many people as I can about screening and prevention. I am a stage 4 survivor and life is so good! I know this sounds strange, but there have been so many positive things that happen to me every day because of cancer, (people that I meet, how I look a things, closer to those that I love)that I would not change my life for anything else. My birthday is May 17th,and I will be 42. Considering that my father died at age 37 from cancer, (back in 1964 before chemo was invented)
I consider myself blessed for being here. Welcome to my absolutely marvelous fantastic life! If you are newly diagnosed with stage 4, do not panic. I am here for anyone who needs support.

msoto

hi! this is the first time i've used this so i hope i do it right. my husband was diagnosed with stage iv colon cancer with mets on the liver in dec 2001. he had a colon recection with ostomy and started chemo. he was the cancer free and the cancer came back 2 months later on the liver and rectal area. treated with chemo 2nd time and was free of cancer but continued treatment just to make sure. cancer came back 3rd time this time liver, rectal, and lung. they tried chemo by pill form tumors have continued to grow. he is off chemo now and had 9 radiation treatments. the dr wanted to do 20 but he felt the he could no longer continue. he felt that it would be the radiation that would kill him not the cancer. the dr has said that he is terminal. he is 38 yrs old and we have been married for 21yrs. we have 4 children and 2 grandchildren. we are christians and believe in god. we believe in power of prayer and pray alot. he still works and gets around. he takes pain meds to help with the pain in his rectal area,pressure from the tumor. i would like to here from you. it sounds like you are going through alot of the same things. you can email me at emsoto@brawleyonline.com if you would like. thanks for posting your message.

lancelot14466

Thanks to all who replied. It always helps to know your not alone and that there are other people out there going through the same thing. I dont know what the future will bring for my husband, I only know that it is imperative that you believe. You MUST stay in the light and Im not a particularily religious person but I do believe that if you can stay positive and try to summon all the positive energy you can that you can beat it. You will have up days and down days but you must keep on keeping on. Try not to get too hung up on the CEA marker because they can fluctuate wildly. Happy birthday to you in advance Victoria.

Msoto, your husband sounds like a strong cookie. You have come a long way and have been through much together. You never know what new procedures are around the corner, he must hang in there, God, the spirits, the fates, whatever anyone wants to call it...will see you through. No one can tell you when your time is up except God.

carterredd

msoto said:

hi! this is the first time i've used this so i hope i do it right. my husband was diagnosed with stage iv colon cancer with mets on the liver in dec 2001. he had a colon recection with ostomy and started chemo. he was the cancer free and the cancer came back 2 months later on the liver and rectal area. treated with chemo 2nd time and was free of cancer but continued treatment just to make sure. cancer came back 3rd time this time liver, rectal, and lung. they tried chemo by pill form tumors have continued to grow. he is off chemo now and had 9 radiation treatments. the dr wanted to do 20 but he felt the he could no longer continue. he felt that it would be the radiation that would kill him not the cancer. the dr has said that he is terminal. he is 38 yrs old and we have been married for 21yrs. we have 4 children and 2 grandchildren. we are christians and believe in god. we believe in power of prayer and pray alot. he still works and gets around. he takes pain meds to help with the pain in his rectal area,pressure from the tumor. i would like to here from you. it sounds like you are going through alot of the same things. you can email me at emsoto@brawleyonline.com if you would like. thanks for posting your message.

This is a first for me on this site. My 69 year old father was diagnosed last June with stage IV colon cancer. He also had small lesions on his liver and lungs, but nothing on his brain. Since then he had great success with chemo bringing his marker down to below 20 from 250 start. His arm got infected from the port and the doctor decided to let him rest for seven weeks. His hair came back and looked great, but his marker shot back up to over 100. He became immune to the chemo, started to have trouble with his balance and legs, leading to aCT scan of his brain. They found two lesions and since then he has had 14 treatments of radiation. He is totally wiped out, has atrophied considerably and is quite despondent about his lack of independence. Next week he goes down to Miami to be considered for the imclone drug clinical trial. Has anyone had any success with this treatment or any suggestions to help our despondence?

spencerw

VictoriaC said:

It is so nice to hear your story! I wished that I had stumbled on this site when I was in my darkest hours, thinking that there was no hope. I have since learned differently.
I was diagnosed October 17, 2002, had surgery on November 6th to remove the tumor in my colon, and started chemo on December 6, 2002. When they opened me up, they also found a golf ball sized tumor on my abdomen and 7 cherry sized tumors in each lobe of my liver. They removed the tumor on my abdomen. They also removed 23 Lymph nodes that came back negative. I still can't figure that one out! I have been reponding very well so far to chemo...my tumor markings were 3,159 in December and now they are 750, always going down. I get a
new reading on Monday. I have learned so much about this disease, and I inform as many people as I can about screening and prevention. I am a stage 4 survivor and life is so good! I know this sounds strange, but there have been so many positive things that happen to me every day because of cancer, (people that I meet, how I look a things, closer to those that I love)that I would not change my life for anything else. My birthday is May 17th,and I will be 42. Considering that my father died at age 37 from cancer, (back in 1964 before chemo was invented)
I consider myself blessed for being here. Welcome to my absolutely marvelous fantastic life! If you are newly diagnosed with stage 4, do not panic. I am here for anyone who needs support.

Victoria- I have to ask. The date on this e-mail is months ago. How are you doing today? I'm very happy to hear of your success. My mom has stage 4 colon cancer w/ liver mets and is doing great as well. So far so good.