Survival rate

gabby_ca said:

Thanks SO SO much Sandy  I

Thanks SO SO much Sandy  I love making anyone's day. 

Yes, 37 is really young.  My son was a newborn and I thought I had a hemmorhoid after child birth although I had a c-section.  I always thought in the back of my mind that this was wrong.  Something was wrong.  Throw into the mix my being a widow as my little man's dad died while I was pregnant with him.  After pushing after 8 weeks of not feeling right and pushing to massive pain, I was diagnosed with anal cancer and was staged at T3,N0,M0 purely T3 as the size of my tumour was the size of a lime.  Sadly, the pregnancy hormones fueled my cancer and if I had not been pregnant, I would have probably not been diagnosed for at least 10 years or so.  My pregnancy was the gasoline for my cancer and for that, my son is a blessing.

I had to stop nursing after diagnosis and the start of treatment and I did 26 doses of radiation over 4 weeks and a 96 hour infusion of mitomycin C and 5FU in a hip pouch while I lived my life as a mom to a new baby and a competitive soccer coach as well. I continued working full time and I put my head down and my tail up and I got through it.  I kept aquaphor in the fridge to keep it cold as the burns were PHENOMENAL and I remember sitting in front of a fan naked like a stripper holding my son and biting my lip looking for the strength to JUST get it done.

8 years later finds me with my newborn son now in grade 2 and I sit on the PAC in the school in which he attends.  I also sit on the city council of my district almost at a trustee level and I do it because my life is WAY brighter after seeing cancer and having the guts and the foresight to know that it does indeed pass.  Life does indeed go forward if you choose to get beyond having HAD cancer.

8 years later, I still have to rush to the bathroom upon getting up from my bed and my new normal is 5-10 BM's in 45 minutues upon waking.  Then I live the rest of my day as if I never had cancer in the first place.  I am self employed ground training warm blood horses working 50 plus hours a week and I am in the best damn shape of my life. My last check up from my GP found me with 117/52 for a heart rate and the last time I had a cancer checkup was 3 years plus now as I'm not in cancer school any longer.  I am to report back if I am symptomatic.

I am 2 classes away from a masters degree in math and I cannot remember if there was EVER a month since diagnosis that I did not enjoy the taste of a blue rare, gorgous steak.  I still drink my wine red and msg gives me the runs as does eating anything greasy and I am ok with that because the alternative is not something that I'm ready for yet.

I am not anything special although I had this cancer too.  I hope though that some of you will see that yes, there are those of us that have lived a long time since diagnosis and maybe you should set up your life with the intent that you will be too.

 

Gabby

 

 

 

 

 

OMG! That is such an amazing story. You are such a light to this board.

I just want to say, though, on the cautionary side to make sure you are tested for CVID and if you test low in ImmunoGlobulin G as I did, you should see a GI that is familiar with this immune deficiency. That is what is next for me. My oncologist recommended the every three year Colonoscopy be changed to every year now.

Vigilence is the key to our continued good health. You may not have this. It's just a blood test, but with our history, my opinion is, if we haven't tested positive for HPV, this is the next test that should be run, if not the first test that should be run. 

Fondly,

Sandy

svhagen said:

13 years and no return of cancer

When I was diagnosed at a stage 2 level, my oncologist said the odds were about 85% survival.

those are good odds and I always believed I would be in the 85%, which fortunately I was.

looks like you stand a good chance of survival unless the cancer has progressed quite a bit.

be positive, think positive

be well

 

Thank you so much for your post!  All of us get a great bit of encouragement knowing that there are long-term survivors such as yourself.  I am approaching the 6-year mark, but you have a few years on me--and that's great!  I wish you continued NED and good health!

Martha