Stage 4, 38 years old, wondering?

Similar story
I am sorry you find yourself here at this time in your life. I too am stage four aged 39 with two children (4 and 7) and no family history, with all the same thoughts for the future. I have had longer to think, I guess, having had stage 3 cancer diagnosed in 2003 and only having my recurrence since 2010. However, I too remain fairly well- I work full time as a doctor, play with my kids and enjoy life when ever I can. Yes, I have pain and some other symptoms and some days are dominated by treatments and hospital appointments but I continuing to live.

Time frames in this game are simply guesses and averages from studies- they have little applicability to individuals especially those who fall outside the 'typical' study group. Your age, good treatment, good physical health and positive attitude will serve you well and you still retain hope for a good life yet.

The hidden blessing in all this is making us appreciate all we have and each day we live. I think those of us with young children face some unique challenges but they also are my strongest motivator to continue to live life with quality.

I wish all the best in the time ahead
steve

Shauna...welcome to this board;
I'm so sorry you had to have reason to come here but trust me, out of all the initial decisions I made after diagnosis, finding this site was one of the best. I too, like you, have colon cancer with multiple mets to my liver. I was diagnosed Jan of 2011 Stage II and found out in Feb of 2011 that I had 30+ lesions in both lobes of my liver, thus became Stage IV. I started with the Folfox regimen w/Avastin. My starting CEA was 337. A little over a year later, I am down to 15 lesions on my liver, CEA is at 1.0 (last count) and I am on an extended chemo break from January 13th. I am hopeful as you are. I have 3 girls, 11, 14 and soon to be 30. They motivate and inspire me to appreciate the days I have and cause me to hope for more. I, like you, want to be here a long time to see them grow and live their own lives. I also have no colon cancer in my family. I have spent many thoughtful moments saying "why me"...."what did I do or not do"....but it is what it is. I pray that the treatments that are available will keep us going until there is a cure for this dreaded disease that has tried so hard to steal the joy in our life. Keep coming here for comfort, support, venting, celebration....whatever this beast takes you thru, know that coming here will help ease your pain. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Much love,

Pam

Sorry
So sorry that you are going through all this. The cocktail (chemo) that you are on is not easy, but doable. It sounds like you have a good attitude and faith in God to get you through all this. It's hard but we are here to help you get through all those situations that you are going through. Welcome to the board and just wanted to let you know you have become a member of a great group. Please continue to let us know how you are doing with you.

Kim

pscott1 said:

Shauna...welcome to this board;
I'm so sorry you had to have reason to come here but trust me, out of all the initial decisions I made after diagnosis, finding this site was one of the best. I too, like you, have colon cancer with multiple mets to my liver. I was diagnosed Jan of 2011 Stage II and found out in Feb of 2011 that I had 30+ lesions in both lobes of my liver, thus became Stage IV. I started with the Folfox regimen w/Avastin. My starting CEA was 337. A little over a year later, I am down to 15 lesions on my liver, CEA is at 1.0 (last count) and I am on an extended chemo break from January 13th. I am hopeful as you are. I have 3 girls, 11, 14 and soon to be 30. They motivate and inspire me to appreciate the days I have and cause me to hope for more. I, like you, want to be here a long time to see them grow and live their own lives. I also have no colon cancer in my family. I have spent many thoughtful moments saying "why me"...."what did I do or not do"....but it is what it is. I pray that the treatments that are available will keep us going until there is a cure for this dreaded disease that has tried so hard to steal the joy in our life. Keep coming here for comfort, support, venting, celebration....whatever this beast takes you thru, know that coming here will help ease your pain. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Much love,

Pam

Welcome to this board. I am
Welcome to this board. I am sorry that you have to be here. I am here to tell you there is hope. I was dx 6 1/2 stage IV with liver mets and i am doing well. There are a few 8 year survivors who i am sure will chime in.

Did your doctor talk to you about chemo hopefully killing some of the small spots and then having liver surgery.

Dear Shauna
Congratulations on finding a great support network with this website, I just wish you didn't have to have a Dx to find it.

I was Dx on 19 May 2012 with Stage IV mets to the right lung and too many in the liver to count. I spent the rest of that day in "poor,poor pitiful me" mode. At one point, I reflected back on how hard I had worked to get out of a wheelchair just so I could die of cancer. That was the hardest that I wept after being diagnosed.

A week and a half later, I was talking with my best friend and told her that it was a great day to be alive. Then I paused and told her that every day was a great day to be alive and I've said that every day since then. With that statement, my resolve and strength have got me through some very difficult days.

Next month, I celebrate two birthdays: the 1st marks the day that this body was born and the 19th marks the day that I learned how to really live. I'm going to commemorate it by getting a tattoo on my right arm of a sword with STAGE IV across the hilt and SURVIVOR curved under the tip of blade. Down the length of the blade will be 19 MAY 2010 and dripping from the tip of the blade will be two drops of blood, one for each year and another drop will be added every year for the rest of my life.

My final thoughts on this are to relate my belief about God. I have preached for years that God is a blacksmith and He takes each one of use as a raw piece of metal and first puts us into His forge to get us red hot, then on the anvil where He pounds us with His hammer to shape us. Occasionally, we get a cool and tempering dip into water, then it's back to the forge and the anvil. Finally, we are dragged across a stone until we are sharp weapons to serve against evil. I believe that at this stage in our lives, we are done with the forge and the anvil and are now being honed and this can take a very long time.

So take heart, Shauna, there are treatments coming out every year that are better than ever before. Ask your Onc to test you for the wild KRAS gene, which opens you up to a wider range of treatments. It's pretty rare, and the side effects can be pretty bad, but the alternative is always worse.

May God Bless You,

Doc

stay strong
My best wishes for successful treatment. I also wanted to share this blog w/ you: http://www.wunderglo.com/

She was diagnosed also very young, at age 28 stage 4 and she's been fighting aggressively and courageously ever since.

Doc_Hawk said:

Dear Shauna
Congratulations on finding a great support network with this website, I just wish you didn't have to have a Dx to find it.

I was Dx on 19 May 2012 with Stage IV mets to the right lung and too many in the liver to count. I spent the rest of that day in "poor,poor pitiful me" mode. At one point, I reflected back on how hard I had worked to get out of a wheelchair just so I could die of cancer. That was the hardest that I wept after being diagnosed.

A week and a half later, I was talking with my best friend and told her that it was a great day to be alive. Then I paused and told her that every day was a great day to be alive and I've said that every day since then. With that statement, my resolve and strength have got me through some very difficult days.

Next month, I celebrate two birthdays: the 1st marks the day that this body was born and the 19th marks the day that I learned how to really live. I'm going to commemorate it by getting a tattoo on my right arm of a sword with STAGE IV across the hilt and SURVIVOR curved under the tip of blade. Down the length of the blade will be 19 MAY 2010 and dripping from the tip of the blade will be two drops of blood, one for each year and another drop will be added every year for the rest of my life.

My final thoughts on this are to relate my belief about God. I have preached for years that God is a blacksmith and He takes each one of use as a raw piece of metal and first puts us into His forge to get us red hot, then on the anvil where He pounds us with His hammer to shape us. Occasionally, we get a cool and tempering dip into water, then it's back to the forge and the anvil. Finally, we are dragged across a stone until we are sharp weapons to serve against evil. I believe that at this stage in our lives, we are done with the forge and the anvil and are now being honed and this can take a very long time.

So take heart, Shauna, there are treatments coming out every year that are better than ever before. Ask your Onc to test you for the wild KRAS gene, which opens you up to a wider range of treatments. It's pretty rare, and the side effects can be pretty bad, but the alternative is always worse.

May God Bless You,

Doc

Love the Blacksmith
Doc

I absolutely love your Blacksmith quote within your post.

I had to steel it and repost within my Caring Bridge site.

awesome stuff!

my best

Joe

Here's the site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joemetzger

Thank you so much for your post and your wisdom.

taking the long way...
There are many things one can do. We've had many discussions here about treating advanced CRC. Complementary treatments can be neoadjuvant (before surgery), perioperative (around and including surgery) and adjuvant (after surgery).

One of the continuing problems that I see here is that people under utilize molecular targeting, what is known, knowable or usable. Different kinds of medicine use different materials, whether nutritional, TCM or conventional, to hit various molecular targets, some that overlap. We add natural products and off label generic drugs to address this.

Also a lost treatment point that seems crucial is that there is maintenance treatment post-chemo to stop residual metastases, from spreading. It is so common, doctor "sez NED", stops everything, and a few months later, it comes back worse. For my wife, daily things like cimetidine, PSK, vitamin D3, aspirin, silymarin, and many others, as well as light, daily oral chemo have been important.

Same here
I am in your shoes, DX at 38 only with stage 3, but it was about a year later after surgery, chemo, rads, clear and then it came back, so now stage 4, did oral chemo, surgery, no rads this time, thank God...I have been clear since 11/18/2008, or 6/04/2009, I have to dates as one uses the day of surgery and some use the day of the last chemo treatment.

I have been in remission or NED for 3.5 years, I count by the surgery date *grin*

I have no secret as to why, I have no recipe for any special diets, I have several issues left over from all the treatments, and I struggle mentally with the whole thing, but I am getting better, and taking life one day at a time, and I am so very thankful that I have each and every day...

I too believe in God, I strongly believe he is not finished with me here on this earth, I for one am glad, not ready to go just yet.

I will keep you in my prayers as I do everyone that finds this wonderful group of very special people, many of who have been a great part of me getting to where I am. There really are some amazing people here and I thank God every night for them and for all on here.

HUGS
Beth