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restage from stage IV to stage III ???

alta29
alta29 CSN Member Posts: 435 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
can someone explain this to me like I am a 5 year old ? Talked to my surgeon before the surgery...To start, this is a new surgeon ( very well know in the area )Before the surgery he ordered a new CT, x rays and a MRI. After he got the results he called my old surgeon and asked him if it was posible that my cancer was a stage before, because he didn't believe that it metatazied to the ovaries but that what happened was that the ovarir was " feeding" from the colon....After he got the results, he kept on saying that it look to hm like a stage 3. From the tumors that he was going to operate on...he said that one of them he was not going to touch because its been the same for the last years. The other one he took our. It was cancer....no lymph nodes involved.His last word today ? He is syill inclined to say that it was not a stage IV. The lypmph node that they took was also probably there since the begining....he also keeps on mentioning thatif this thing hasn't spread to the liver/lungs after 2 1/ years,( because I got the mass in the psao muscle I thought this didn't count any more ) that I have a better chance now to not see it ever...,all this sounds soooooo good....that is hard to believe, because I havent' heard anything like this before in this forum....
Well...anyways, I am back homr...I could not wait to tell you this...I value your opinion a lot....MAKE MY DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
God bless you all
Miracles Do happened...........
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Comments

  • robinvan
    robinvan CSN Member Posts: 1,012
    #2
    Hi Ileana,
    What great news!! Now... for deep healing and enjoying the summer!
    Rob; in Vancouver

    "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein
    "A Cancer Journal" www.rob-pollock.blogspot.com
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  • shmurciakova
    shmurciakova CSN Member Posts: 906 Member
    #3
    Well, I can't explain it like you are a 5 year old, because I feel like a 5 year old reading it! I thought that any time cancer travels to distant organs it is considered Stage IV. I thought you had a liver resection, didn't you? I cannot lie and say I remember all the specifics of your case, but I thought that you were having liver nodules removed. I am confused! Anyway, it sounds like good news. Please fill us in when you understand more yourself.
    I'm glad your back home and on the mend!
    -Susan
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  • jerseysue
    jerseysue CSN Member Posts: 624 Member
    #4
    My surgeon also told me something like that. He thought I was stage III because it never made it to a "major" organ. However my onc told me that I was a stage IV.
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  • alta29
    alta29 CSN Member Posts: 435 Member
    #5
    shmurciakova said:

    Well, I can't explain it like you are a 5 year old, because I feel like a 5 year old reading it! I thought that any time cancer travels to distant organs it is considered Stage IV. I thought you had a liver resection, didn't you? I cannot lie and say I remember all the specifics of your case, but I thought that you were having liver nodules removed. I am confused! Anyway, it sounds like good news. Please fill us in when you understand more yourself.
    I'm glad your back home and on the mend!
    -Susan

    When I was first dx they also foind it in my ovaries...was on remission for almost a year, then the lymph node...never in the lungs or liver.....no other lymph nodes found this time...i have an appt. next Friday with surgeon and nexr monday with onco....will keep you all posted
    God bless
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  • HowardJ
    HowardJ CSN Member Posts: 474
    #6
    Hi,

    The ACS home page has good links to a lot of useful information. Here's the one which describes staging:

    http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_3X_How_is_colon_and_rectum_cancer_staged.asp?sitearea=

    Essentially, Stage III= lymph node involvement, Stage IV = spread to distant sites of the body.

    Howard
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  • Kanort
    Kanort CSN Member Posts: 1,272 Member
    #7
    Hi Ileana,

    I have a friend that is currently in treatment. Her surgeon found some cancer cells on her urethra when he took out her rectal tumor. The surgeon told my friend that she was still stage three, but her oncologist restaged her as four. So, I guess they are not always in agreement.

    I am happy you are doing so well.

    Hugs,

    Kay
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