Newbie

Bobbyt1023

Hi,

Well my Mom had cancer at age of 26 and has been cancer free after receiving radiation tubes inserted in her thus her cervical cancer was cured she is today 85 living well.  I was just diagnosed with Colon Cancer and am scheduled for surgery in a week.  I am hoping like Mom after surgery and treatment I will be cured for the rest of my life, only God knows for sure.

I have read the books the hospital gave me regarding cancer and it talks about how many are living after 5 yrs and some 10 yrs and some 15 yrs, am I to assume since I have gotten Colon Cancer that even if removed and it has not spread that this automatically decreases my life span?  Anyone shed some light on this

 

B

janderson1964

Welcome. I am sorry you have

Welcome. I am sorry you have to be here. Don't get to wrapped up in the numbers. That is all they are is numbers. A lot of those numbers pertains to stage IV. Hopefully you are early stage and never have a recurrence.

NewHere

Welcome

Sorry to hear you had to join here, but it is a very good place with good people.  I just started my chemo yesterday after surgery 5 weeks ago.

There are some numbers out there, but het always seem to be changing for the better in terms of survival and treatment.  Try not to let the numbers get to you too much.  I know my numbers are not the greatest in terms of survival based on my Stage (III C) which is somehwere around 53% surivival in 5 years if you just look at the charts, but there is more to than that.  Overall health and other factors.

So try not to get too bogged down with the negative portions that are out there and try to focus on healing and other things that will help you in the process.  Getting up walking ASAP after the surgery is a big one that I learned here before my surgery.  Was sprung in 4 days since I remebered what people told me here

Good luck and hang out here.  Good place for questions, discussions, thoughts, laughs and all the rest.

Bobbyt1023

janderson1964 said:

Welcome. I am sorry you have

Welcome. I am sorry you have to be here. Don't get to wrapped up in the numbers. That is all they are is numbers. A lot of those numbers pertains to stage IV. Hopefully you are early stage and never have a recurrence.

Thanks that makes two of us,

Thanks that makes two of us, doc says I have had it for about 2 yrs, I probably shouldn't have read the brochure cause before that I was like ok this is a walk in the park have surgery and move on, change eating habits and exercise more, etc.

 

Bobbyt1023

NewHere said:

Welcome

Sorry to hear you had to join here, but it is a very good place with good people.  I just started my chemo yesterday after surgery 5 weeks ago.

There are some numbers out there, but het always seem to be changing for the better in terms of survival and treatment.  Try not to let the numbers get to you too much.  I know my numbers are not the greatest in terms of survival based on my Stage (III C) which is somehwere around 53% surivival in 5 years if you just look at the charts, but there is more to than that.  Overall health and other factors.

So try not to get too bogged down with the negative portions that are out there and try to focus on healing and other things that will help you in the process.  Getting up walking ASAP after the surgery is a big one that I learned here before my surgery.  Was sprung in 4 days since I remebered what people told me here

Good luck and hang out here.  Good place for questions, discussions, thoughts, laughs and all the rest.

Thanks for the suggestion of

Thanks for the suggestion of getting out of bed asap, I will definitely keep that in mind.  Good Luck to you too.

 

B

Lovekitties

Welcome

Welcome to the board.  The folks here are friendly and willing to help you along the way.

As far as statistics go, if you paid attention to all of them you might think hard about driving a car, being in a plane, shoveling snow, and on and on.  Existing can be a dangerous process.  Living however means you get out there and enjoy!

Remeber that in every statistic, there is a good side and a not so good side.  Why shouldn't you hit the good side?

Best wishes on your upcoming surgery.

Marie who loves kitties

 

TheLadySkye

Statistics

I know it's hard not to look, but Mark Twain said it best - "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Almost everything printed is out of date.

Absolutely NOTHING printed (unless you wrote it) is about YOU. 

lilacbrroller

TheLadySkye said:

Statistics

I know it's hard not to look, but Mark Twain said it best - "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Almost everything printed is out of date.

Absolutely NOTHING printed (unless you wrote it) is about YOU. 

better odds

Welcome to the board! So sorry you have to be here but we are a nice community.

TLS - I like your last line - nothing printed unless you wrote it is about YOU. I'm going to remember that.  

If you are stage I, and your cancer is just a big bad tumor that hasn't spread anywhere else yet (you hope), yes, your chances of long term survival are much better than say someone with massive spread.  Many people who were stage I or II never have recurrences, and go on to live normal lives. Since you went through this with your Mom already, you probably know more about cancer than the average person?  If not, the main portal for the American Cancer Society website has a lot of really good information, like about different stages of cancer, and colorectal specific information.  re: radiation tubes. Was that standard in her day, in the 50s?  Henrietta Lacks (HeLa cells) got this at Hopkins in the early 50s, according to her biography; she had the same type of cancer. Good that it worked for your Mom!

welcome again and good luck with your surgery and treatments

atb

Karin

 

Annabelle41415

Welcome

Sorry that you had to join us but glad that you did because you will find a lot of wonderful people here to help you get through all of this.  Technology has come a long way since your mother was diagnosed and there are a lot of long term survivors on here with all stages.  Most that have been long term of 5 years or more have moved on just to get on with life so you won't see a lot of postings, but once in awhile they do chime in.  If you have a lower stage of cancer that is a better chance of you being completely NED if they do surgery and cut it out all at once, however, you will need to be monitored for at least 5 years dues to cancer cells that can escape during surgery and take up residence some place else.  Every scan will be an ordeal and scary but it is a terrible part of this disease that you will have do.  If they offer mop up chemo after surgery, that is to make sure that any cancer cells don't take up someplace else and kills it while in transit, so consider that option if available but make sure you know all the risks.  Good luck in the upcoming journey and we are here to help you all the way.

Kim

Bobbyt1023

lilacbrroller said:

better odds

Welcome to the board! So sorry you have to be here but we are a nice community.

TLS - I like your last line - nothing printed unless you wrote it is about YOU. I'm going to remember that.  

If you are stage I, and your cancer is just a big bad tumor that hasn't spread anywhere else yet (you hope), yes, your chances of long term survival are much better than say someone with massive spread.  Many people who were stage I or II never have recurrences, and go on to live normal lives. Since you went through this with your Mom already, you probably know more about cancer than the average person?  If not, the main portal for the American Cancer Society website has a lot of really good information, like about different stages of cancer, and colorectal specific information.  re: radiation tubes. Was that standard in her day, in the 50s?  Henrietta Lacks (HeLa cells) got this at Hopkins in the early 50s, according to her biography; she had the same type of cancer. Good that it worked for your Mom!

welcome again and good luck with your surgery and treatments

atb

Karin

 

standard in 50's

Hello Karin,

I have to tell you this is weird putting your name down, since it is the identical one of my X.  Mom told me it was experimentation and apparently written up in the Pennsylvania Medical Journals, I personally never looked to see myself since taking my Mom's word was enough for me.  Having her around all these years I am greatful for and I am waiting till the night before surgery to inform her, due to the fact she is a heart patient and it's the last thing I need is for her to worry for  days until it is over.  Thanks for taking the time to write, that was very considerate and kind of you.

Bob

lp1964

Hey Bobby,

Let's hope for the best outcome for you. Many people here agree with me and medical research seems to suggest that taking at least 400mg Cimetidine/Tagamet (over the counter) twice a day 2 weeks before and at least 2 weeks after surgery seen to reduce the chance of the cancer spreading during the operation. Interestingly its for heartburn so quiet harmless and cannot hurt taking it. 

Looking forward to hear from you later.

Laz

Trubrit

Life span

When you think about it, who really knows what our life span is going to be. They can estimate, but so many things can change that number, Cancer being one of them. 

There are people here on the forum who are 6, 8 10, 17 years out and still moving along; albeit with some limitations and you may join that group. The hard thing with Cancer is the not knowing. You can eat right and exercise, do the standard treatment or go to extremes (as some of our friends have) you may pass or you may live on. I'm not going to say its the luck of the draw or God's grace, because I really don't know what it is, just grateful that there are survivors. 

How wonderful to have your mother as an example. Just tell yourself that you are going to be like her, and live to a grand age.

The mind is a very VERY powerful tool, one that I don't think we use, as far as healing, as much as we could.

Welcome to the forum. We look forward to getting to know you, and sharing the load as you travel this road.

Good luck next week with the surgery. As New Here mentioned, get out of bed and walk, walk, walk, just as soon as you are able. Its uncomfortable actually swinging your feet off the bed, but once you get going, you'll be good. It helps no end in the healing, both physically and mentally.

Once you've had the surgery, they will do the pathology and stage you, and then you know where you're at and be able to make plans to fight, fight, fight. 

We're here for you, and soon, you'll be here for others. 

Sue - Trubrit

Easyflip

Just wanted to say welcome,

I'm 2 years out from my original diagnoses but I'm still livin', kickin', grinnin' and tickin'! I've decided to just make the best of whatever time I have left, frankly what other option is there? Best of luck to you!

Easyflip/Richard

tanstaafl

More opportunities

More blood tests before surgery can tell you more information, especially CA19-9 biomarker with ESR and hs CRP for inflammation (on top of CEA).  For a baseline you might look around the boards.   I believe my wife taking cimetidine and some of the Life Extension Foundation recommended supplements (I usually buy elsewhere but paid for their membership for extra benefits) before surgery were a life saver - turned a lot of the cancer into mush.