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  • ThomasH
    ThomasH Member Posts: 106 Member
    #22
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    cindy14 said:

    I go for my port tomorrow....

    I am so nervous about all this! to much all at once! I was stage 1 in 2014 had surgery nothing in my lymph nodes it was all good. fast forward to april 2017 i go for my routine blood work no go cea was 21! CT scan reveled 2 lymph nodes in my pelvis with tumors. i can't do surgery at this time so a port and chem it is. i am extremly nervous and anxious about all this. I couldn't bring myself to agree to all this with my dr.......Am i being overly ridiculous here?! I am afraid of how i'll react to treatment as far as symptoms go is my worst fear i suppose............HELP!

    Welcome to the club Cindy

    First, I'm really sorry to hear about your Dx. Everyone here knows how awful it is to get that news.

    Jan has great advise! All I will add to that is that you will probably learn that you are WAY stronger than you think you are. Treatment is not easy and it isn't fun, but you have the support of friends, family, and faith (if you are so inclined). There will be side effects from the chemo you won't like, but you can make it through them. One of the hardest things is to just not think about the "What Ifs". It isn't easy, but worry only drains energy you could be using to get better. I always say "Make a plan for the things you can control, and don't waste time on things you can't".

    People beat cancer every day. You can too!

    Thomas

  • JanJan63
    JanJan63 Member Posts: 2,478 Member
    #23
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    cindy14 said:

    I go for my port tomorrow....

    I am so nervous about all this! to much all at once! I was stage 1 in 2014 had surgery nothing in my lymph nodes it was all good. fast forward to april 2017 i go for my routine blood work no go cea was 21! CT scan reveled 2 lymph nodes in my pelvis with tumors. i can't do surgery at this time so a port and chem it is. i am extremly nervous and anxious about all this. I couldn't bring myself to agree to all this with my dr.......Am i being overly ridiculous here?! I am afraid of how i'll react to treatment as far as symptoms go is my worst fear i suppose............HELP!

    Welcome Cindy

    Welcome Cindy, you're in the right place. We've all been there and lived to tell about it. There's nothing worse than fear of the unknown. I found with the cancer treatments and all the surgeries and crap that most things were not as bad as I'd anticipated. The port was pretty easy. They freeze the area and you hardly feel it after. It's tender for a while, at least mine was, and it can get in the way of a shoulder seat belt or make you a little leary of getting hugs but most people don't experience that. Whatever chemo they decide to use for you has various side effects for each chemo and each person. I had the 5FU chemo bottle in my port and the worst that happened was some pretty severe fatigue. But, I was gettng radiation at the same time so it might have been because of the combination, rather than just the chemo.

    Few people lose their hair with any of the chemos for colon cancer. A few people on here did but it's more likely to happen for people who are having a hormone related cancer treated, such as breast cancer. Every cancer requires a different chemo cocktail so what you know about someone having chemo for a different cancer will not be the same for you. I don't know if you know that already, I didn't when I was diagnosed. I thought chemo was chemo. 

    So, you're not being overly ridiculous, you're just being a normal human being who is scared. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be. Once the treatments are over you'll wonder why you worried so much and you'll feel like superwoman for getting through it. Just keep your eyes on the prize and know that your team will do their best to get you healthy again. 

    Good luck!

    Jan

     

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