New Member and scared

judman92 -
First thing, stop with the fear.

Next thing, stop with the $%^&&# fear.

Cancer grows fairly slow; there's usually no "race against time".

Take the time you have now, to get another opinion from
another qualified colorectal surgeon that is not of the same
group or organization as your present colorectal surgeon.

I'm assuming you have a colorectal surgeon... You do, right?

And you'll want to have a second opinion from a different
oncologist, and again.... one that's not of the same group
or organization.

There seems to be some sort of a rush to get you into some
"trial". Why? You haven't even started any serious treatment
yet, and certainly not have tried treatments and have had them
all fail, leaving you no recourse other than to be a guinea pig
for the cancer indu$try.

Take your time and relax. You have cancer; big deal. We all
have cancer here, some have, some "had", but we're all here
for the same reason. Shed the fear and allow your own instincts
for survival take over. There are plenty of treatments available,
chemo, radiation, ablation, and alternative medicine. There's
more options to various treatments than your Oncologist is
telling you. You need to have other professional opinions!

You are right to question "side effects", since they can often
last longer than the cancer and be more debilitating.

You'll do just fine; just lose the fear of cancer and use your
instincts and intelligence to provide direction.

You -will- do fine!

My best wishes,

John

Judman
Judman,

I can relate to how you're feeling. I was 39 when I was diagnosed and it was terrifying. I was diagnosed with liver mets at the start so it's a bit different than your experience. But I was about to go to bed tonight when I read your post and I couldn't go to sleep until I posted.

First, I am a bit curious as to your initial staging. Did you have a scan prior to surgery? It's a bit confusing as you wrote you have multiple areas of the liver lighting up but they weren't there 6 weeks ago?

In any case, I would advise you to get a second opinion. I haven't heard of anyone being told to get into a Phase 2 trial (or 1 or 3 for that matter) before he/she has even had chemotherapy. There is no way to know now how you will respond to different regimens but there are a couple of different treatments that would be tried before moving to a trial. Trials even have the requirement that standard protocols have failed in order to allow a person into the trial. So your doctor's comment is confusing.

Second, I don't understand a doctor saying the cancer has spread to multiple liver areas and therefore surgery is not an option. The mets may be in a bad location and that could prohibit resection. That's understandable. But having a few mets in different locations doesn't preclude surgery. It didn't for me. I had 5 mets (3 in left, 1 in right, 1 in middle) and all 5 were removed during my surgery. If you were definitely told surgery is not an option because of multiple spots (and not because spots were by arteries, etc), then get a second opinion and make sure the opinion is from a hepatabiliary surgeon. You may still do chemo first. Sometimes it's a good idea to do that as you can see from the tumor response whether the chemo is working. I also did that (chemo for 4 rounds and then surgery).

Third, don't start worrying yourself over the chemo. No lie, chemo is not a walk in the park but I had very few side effects and tolerated it very well. Others have more profound side effects. You don't know how you will do but worrying about it now will not change the outcome of how you do with it. My attitude on my first infusion was "let's get it on." The best thing you can do is prepare for possible side effects and if they happen, let your doctor know so you can have pre-meds and/or dosage adjustments.

Finally, John23 here is a resident alternative medicine and has lots of good ideas on natural ways to help your body with supplements. My advice would be to research lots on that topic as well and never be afraid of asking questions. We are here for you.

Amy

John23 said:

judman92 -
First thing, stop with the fear.

Next thing, stop with the $%^&&# fear.

Cancer grows fairly slow; there's usually no "race against time".

Take the time you have now, to get another opinion from
another qualified colorectal surgeon that is not of the same
group or organization as your present colorectal surgeon.

I'm assuming you have a colorectal surgeon... You do, right?

And you'll want to have a second opinion from a different
oncologist, and again.... one that's not of the same group
or organization.

There seems to be some sort of a rush to get you into some
"trial". Why? You haven't even started any serious treatment
yet, and certainly not have tried treatments and have had them
all fail, leaving you no recourse other than to be a guinea pig
for the cancer indu$try.

Take your time and relax. You have cancer; big deal. We all
have cancer here, some have, some "had", but we're all here
for the same reason. Shed the fear and allow your own instincts
for survival take over. There are plenty of treatments available,
chemo, radiation, ablation, and alternative medicine. There's
more options to various treatments than your Oncologist is
telling you. You need to have other professional opinions!

You are right to question "side effects", since they can often
last longer than the cancer and be more debilitating.

You'll do just fine; just lose the fear of cancer and use your
instincts and intelligence to provide direction.

You -will- do fine!

My best wishes,

John

Great Attitude
I love your attitude.

buckeye2 said:

Me Too
I read your post and am posting my first post. My husband was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer about 8 weeks ago. There is a mass outside the colon and two spots on the liver, only one believed to be cancer. This week his oncologist said he might be on chemo the rest of his life and he didn't think surgery would ever be an option. My husband has been very depressed since and I feel so helpless. The posts of this website are helping me.

chemo for life
I'm sorry your husband is feeling down, I get it. I was dx Stage IV in September, and I have a 2 year old daughter. My liver was 75% full of tumors when I started chemo, they were surprised I had no pain or jaundice. I had a scan on Monday, a number of the smaller tumors have drastically shrunk or are gone, and the biggest one has shrunk 60% in size. They don't even look at the primary tumor anymore, can't find it. At this time they're saying I'm a chemo for life as well, but that's today. They said moving forward if the tumors stablize, maybe it could become maintenance, once per month. I think of like have a chronic illness, like diabetes.

I fight for my daugther. She's my moon, sun and sky. Last night we went to a local fair and jumped in a bounce house together for an hour. Not sure who was more tired, me or her.

-Dawn

scared
I am much older than you and I too was scared when the dr. told me I had colon cancer, and he had me scheduled for surgery the next day. My side effects from the chemo have been minimal. The people here have been through this and have given me much strength.

Welcome
Hi! Welcome to the group. I'm so sorry about your diagnosis, and I do understand your fear. Once you get some other opinions and have time to really formulate a plan, I think you'll feel better. It sounds like you have a great support system!

*hugs*
Gail

luvmum said:

I am sorry
I am a caregiver to my mum. Although I am not a patient, I can totally understand how you scared you are. I hope you can stay strong and be positive.

Take good care.
Dora

Sorry
Welcome to the group. This is a great support group. Even thought I'm not the one with cancer (my mother is) I learn more from this site than I do with doctors. Stay strong and have a positive attitude. Will be praying for you.
FM

Buzzard said:

Look at it this way.........
If there was one man on this earth most likely he would be wore out by now......If there was one woman on this earth most likely she would be bossing all the men around by now...kidding...but what I am getting at is this...there are many many many great surgeons, hospitals, clinics, Oncologists, and survivors that were in the same shoes as the 2 of you. Do Not sit back and let one individual make life decisions for you...You will be your own defense mechanism against your cancer. They will recommend treatments to you or other avenues to go but do not think for one minute that anyone has cornered the market on whether or not your options are limited. Oh contraire...your options are limitless...as long as you become proactive in your own knowledge base and be courteous but vigilant in your options for treatment...Make some calls to other hospitals ie. Vanderbilt,MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering etc....do not limit your ability to make major advancements to help yourself get back into the life you lived before cancer. There are so many new things out there...go find one that fits you.......buzz

Thanks
Thanks Buzzard. I guess it's time for us to quit feeling sorry for ourselves and put on our "big boy pants". This site is going to provide me so much comfort and I will share what I learn with me husband. Our situation is somewhat unique in that I was diagnosed with breast cancer six days prior to my husbands diagnosis. Mine was luckily in Stage I so only need radiation which begins this week. These diagnosis happened two weeks prior to our first daughters graduation from high school so instead of the planned $100 gift we were going to give her she got a convertible. She says cancer has made us better gift givers.

Buzzard said:

Look at it this way.........
If there was one man on this earth most likely he would be wore out by now......If there was one woman on this earth most likely she would be bossing all the men around by now...kidding...but what I am getting at is this...there are many many many great surgeons, hospitals, clinics, Oncologists, and survivors that were in the same shoes as the 2 of you. Do Not sit back and let one individual make life decisions for you...You will be your own defense mechanism against your cancer. They will recommend treatments to you or other avenues to go but do not think for one minute that anyone has cornered the market on whether or not your options are limited. Oh contraire...your options are limitless...as long as you become proactive in your own knowledge base and be courteous but vigilant in your options for treatment...Make some calls to other hospitals ie. Vanderbilt,MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering etc....do not limit your ability to make major advancements to help yourself get back into the life you lived before cancer. There are so many new things out there...go find one that fits you.......buzz

Thanks
Thanks Buzzard. I guess it's time for us to quit feeling sorry for ourselves and put on our "big boy pants". This site is going to provide me so much comfort and I will share what I learn with me husband. Our situation is somewhat unique in that I was diagnosed with breast cancer six days prior to my husbands diagnosis. Mine was luckily in Stage I so only need radiation which begins this week. These diagnosis happened two weeks prior to our first daughters graduation from high school so instead of the planned $100 gift we were going to give her she got a convertible. She says cancer has made us better gift givers.

herdizziness said:

Hello Buckeye2
I'm assuming from Ohio? I used to live in Springfield for about 20 years.
My onc told me chemo for rest of life (and my life wasn't supposed to be long). But here I am over a year later, had the surgeries they said I wouldn't have (colon, liver and ureter resections)tumors gone, just had my last chemos last Friday. Tell your hubby don't give up hope, I did for awhile myself, then got busy fighting for every minute of my life, and you know, maybe another piece of cancer will come back alive, maybe there's little cancer babies (LOL, have to have a bit of humor) hanging around in me, but what the heck, I'm not living in that depression (it lasted a while then would go away and then be back) any more, I'm busy enjoying myself. They didn't tell me "they didn't think surgery would ever be an option", they told me it "NEVER" would be an option, goes to show you what the oncs know.
Thinking of you both.
Winter Marie

Winter Marie, thanks fro
Winter Marie, thanks fro sharing. It gives me hope. My husband is sleeping but I want to go in and wake him up just to share it. I never realized how precious the gift of hope is. Hopefully I can "play it forward" some day. We are from Ohio. We live in a small town on the western border.