Terrified of reading online materials - Fiance with Colon Cancer Stage IV

I hesitated commenting because you stated that you wanted to read only positive stories. Although I consider my story a positive one, you may not see it as I do. My husband was dx with stage 4 colon cancer with mets to the liver in 2003. At the time the literature from reputable sources showed a very low 5 year survival rate with an average survival of 22 months. Scary? You bet!. Devastating would probably be a better word. Our dr offered this prognosis, "Treatable, not curable, and life shortening. " Yes, I remember those exact words. When I told our pastor that we were just buying time, he pointed out that that was what all of us were doing. A friend reminded me that none of us get out of this life alive. With those things in mind, we tried to just live the best lives we could in the now. We learned to cherish our time and tried not to waste it. One of my husbands's favorite sayings was, "Let it go dear; just let it go." He was better at that than I was, but I tried. I did do the research. I read, googled, and read some more. I looked up every treatment, and asked questions. Since my husband wasn't into doing that, he relied on me to let him know the side effects and new things that might help. He went through numerous surgeries, chemo, and radiation. In the end and yes, it did end, we were blessed with 6 wonderful years. They weren't perfect, and there were some very tough times. We were married a total of 42 years when I lost him, but some of my best memories come from those last 6 years. Our family, including children, grandchildren, and in-laws grew closer. Friendships became more important. Our faith and church family sustained us.

What I would like you to take from this? First, nobody knows the future. We each may have few or many days. I'm sure you and your fiancé have many. It's important that we recognize that each day is important, though, and live each day the best we can. Two, it doesn't matter what the literature says, each person is an individual and will react to the disease and treatments in individual ways. Also, it has been almost 4 years since I lost my husband. New treatments and protocols are here. Whatever is in the literature is probably dated at best because of the leaps and bounds forward that research is taking us in the fight against cancer. Your fiancé is going to one of the best colon cancer centers in the world. His age is on his side, and somebody has to beat the odds. Why not him? Don't be afraid of staying informed. Just remember that statistics don't tell his story. Tale care, Fay