The Journey Begins

sissy310

I want to first thank everyone on this site for their insight, their information, their personal stories that I was able to bring with me to my first meeting today at the U of M. I met with my colo-rectal surgeon who asked me what I thought this was and what I expected from him to do. I was able to express myself clearly and he concurred. So...the ball starts rolling today. I will be scheduled shortly for a CT, a different kind of MRI (supposedly the Mayo and U of M only have one in Minnesota) and a PET scan. He's having his team gather all the information from the colonoscopy that missed this and any other slides or scans they have of the biopsied piece. The first surgeon thought he got most of it but this surgeon let me look with him and it was only the tip of the iceberg. There is quite a large tumor. Once his own pathologist sees everything and concurs diagnosis, then I will meet with an oncologist and radiologist on his team. I walked in there with a scare level of about 12 and when I left I felt more like a 2. My husband broke down for the first time when he heard the tumor was larger...so much for being stoic...but that is okay...I knew he was just as scared as me. So...for the next few weeks I will be hearing from the nurse there scheduling all these appointments. I realize this will be a tough road but I feel confident in my team, the support of my family and friends and right now I feel positive. From what I gather, they will be doing chemo/rad combo on me if the surgeon agrees with the findings the other doctor found. We shall see. I just heard something today that the past is past, the future has not happened yet and all we have is the present and that is what I will focus on. Day by day, one at a time. I will be in here from time to time checking on everyone else and noting progress, issues or other things that go on. I hope as this transpires I can give others some hope and some advice that will be helpful to them like all of you were for me. Be well. Marilyne