Stories of Beating Stage 4 Cancer???

Stage IV colon cancer metastasized to liver but not yet to the lungs, January 2016.
12 rounds of chemo interrupted mid year for surgery to removed middle part of colon, most of liver, and gallbladder.

I was 63 at the time, which meant I wasn't yet frail, but was also older, so my cells reproduce more slowly (including cancer cells).
Prior to cancer, I ate health foods, exercised regularly, and did not smoke or drink.
I was near the Kellogg Cancer Centers in the Chicago area.
At the centers they had pamphlets offering free genetic testing for colon cancer. I had it done and it showed I did not have any then-known genetic propensity for colon cancer.

At the time of my diagnosis, a daughter who earns a good living as an analyst/advisor told me of my stage IV prognosis:
This just means that you are one of 10 people in a room, and you just have to be one of the 2 who walk out.

Hi marg29L,

I can relate to your feelings and state of mind right now, because you have expressed them so clearly.

Aren't there newer types of chemo now for cancer patients that have fewer side effects and so make it worth staying on them indefinitely?

Have you asked your doctor how the recommended chemo would compare to your previous chemo?

I am now 71 and have 2 little grandchildren ages 1 and 3, who make life delightful at times.
At age 63, when I was dealing with chemo and surgery etc., I did not expect to ever have grandchildren, and could not have imagined how I would feel about them.

So, if I had to deal with chemo again, I most likely would at least begin it.

Today was cold, windy, dark, and stormy, but just now the sun came out for a bit.

Thank you for your response, sorry for you and your wife struggles, cancer seems to not pick and choose. I’m not sure if you can read me ‘about page tells pretty much my last 2 years. I think of those years, how it has changed so and what I have gone through, and about 6 months ago or so, my daughter said to me, Mom I don’t know how you have done this, but thank you for not giving up. That ‘not giving up alone, is a hard battle itself. Seems like your wife has gone through so much, so brave to have done all she has. The chemo forever stopped me as well, I was ready to fight more until he said that, my cancer spread to my liver and the location said is not able for surgery, is in my bile duct so they had to put a stent in to have duct remain open, the part I have to have that removed and replaced every 3 months, for some guess is not a bad procedure, for me is the worst procedure I have done through all this. So I decided against chemo, since surgery cannot happen, and he said chemo will just help with symptoms, which I have few good days, 3 or 4, then a few bad, but I think that’s good I don’t want chemo making me feel worse. I hear people have success and of course makes me think I’m not trying hard enough. I have not heard of the non-chemo alternatives, sure hope you and your wife can find something, and I Pray she is still able to have those “Good days, mean so much. Sorry for going on but i hope you two can keep that hope together!

Something to think about regarding "chemo forever":
It might not be "forever" if they come out with new therapies in a few years, especially gene therapies and hormone therapies like they have for some types of breast cancer already.

So choosing to continue chemo now might be more like the one-day-at-a-time perspective that addicts adopt, only you (or I) would be taking chemo one-day-at-a-time instead of abstaining from something for one-day-at-a-time.
And we would be doing it only until either a different, better option was available, or until we decided we could not bear it anymore.

But if that time at which you cannot bear chemo anymore is now, I respect that too.

I hope that makes sense.