A big fat update

It's been a while...

So, I died. Yep, you read that right. I’ll explain.

For those who don’t know, you can read about my previous experiences in my bio (I hope most of it remains there since the site update). In short, I have Metastatic Colon Cancer with spread to the liver. I was “fortunate” to have relatively few mets (one, then three, which were removed via surgery). First diagnosed in 2019.

For the various side effects related to chemotherapy (first neoadjuvant, then later to stop tumor growth), I had been prescribed a number of medicines that I didn’t like. I had chemo-induced diabetes, which I had under control, like as if I never had the problem (was never diabetic before cancer). However, in the fall of 2021, an NP prescribed dexamethasone for fatigue. That negatively affected my blood glucose levels. They started to skyrocket. I alerted my docs.

(As an aside, those on here who think there’s a link between blood glucose and cancer, I might be your case study. My CEA was exploding at the same time as my blood sugar levels).

In January, I had a seizure, at least one. My wife called the ambulance and they took me to the hospital. I wasn’t breathing. I was in a coma for two days. Super high blood sugar can cause seizures.

You may find it to be a(n) (un)happy accident, because an MRI revealed a small tumor in the brain. Symptoms of diabetes and a brain tumor are extremely similar as it turns out.

After I got out of the hospital in a couple of weeks, I got one shot of radiation to the brain, which was a success. There’s been no signs nor symptoms of a tumor since.

However, the FOLFIRI (with Avastin) was no longer controlling tumor growth. The four spots in the liver increased in size, the largest grew by two CMs. (For CEA watchers, my numbers dropped by about 60% as the blood sugar levels returned to normal….)

So since then, I’ve been waiting on the recommended waiting period before going to Lonsurf if they can (a beat up liver may prevent me from taking that). I’m also on a waiting list for a trial.

I have not been dealing with significant side effects from tumors other than fatigue from the myriad of drugs they’re giving me for whatever reason. I would say that in fact I was feeling good overall, able to run and go to see my kid play soccer.

I don’t know what’s going to happen moving forward. The radiologist and neurologist are satisfied that the tumor they saw are not an immediate danger. I’m of the opinion that the seizure was a function of a blood glucose level over 600 (!) and not the one 9mm tumor, but I suppose it’s good they discovered it. We know it is rare for metastasis to break through the blood brain barrier, and in the rare cases it happens, no one knows why….

I’ll be back to the oncologist next week. If I have to speculate, they may recommend some kind of palliative care if my liver starts acting up. I don’t expect them to get aggressive now after years of using “standard of care” treatments.

I knew what was up when the tumors recurred last summer. I told the doc I wanted to stick around until the fall of this year since my son will be leaving for college. Looks like I will probably get there, after that, who knows?

I’d like to be able to give advice to those new to the experience or rethinking treatment but I’m not sure I’m a good case. I never found the side effects that many have discussed on here and elsewhere were that overwhelming. If an NP asked me if I was feeling nauseated, I’d say yes, but it was generally mild. The medication for those side effects was not mild at all, and I sometimes felt like it was too much. In the beginning, I made the assumption that they all know what they are doing and I should just do what they say, but perhaps not.

Don’t remove your body’s ability to let you know what’s going on inside you. Don’t let the meds make you stick to the couch. Try to get away with taking as little meds as possible and give your body a fighting chance to do what it does.

I woke up from the coma in a couple of days because, as Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, life will find a way. Your cells, organs, etc, find a way to keep going no matter what. It’s just an irony that the same fighting spirt makes the cancer cells do the same thing. Cut off their Oxygen supply or inhibit their reproductive capabilities, those cells seem to find a way around that. Is that to say there is no hope? Nah, if medication can help us manage blood sugar regulation, someone’s going to sort out a way to manage cell growth regulation, too. Just might take a while.